Illumination system and method that presents a natural show to emulate daylight conditions with smoothing dimcurve modification thereof

ABSTRACT

An LED lamp and method are provided for autonomously changing the output brightness and color temperature of a plurality of LED strings to follow a first dimcurve in temporal synchronization with at least one other LED lamp. Synchronization is achieved based on a time of day determined using a clock signal. The output brightness and color temperature can transition from the first dimcurve to a second dimcurve over a predetermined number of scenes. The number of scenes is a function of a difference between the first dimcurve and the second dimcurve in at least one of the output brightness and the color temperature.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 16/812,949, filedMar. 9, 2020, which is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 16/222,430, filedDec. 17, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,624,171, issued Apr. 14, 2020, whichis a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 15/899,677, filed Feb. 20, 2018, nowU.S. Pat. No. 10,159,130, issued Dec. 18, 2018, which is a divisional ofU.S. Ser. No. 15/265,203, entitled “Keypad with Color TemperatureControl as a Function of Brightness Among Scenes and the Momentary orPersistent Override and Reprogram of a Natural Show and Method Thereof”,now U.S. Pat. No. 9,930,742, issued Mar. 27, 2018. Application Ser. No.16/812,949 is also a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 15/265,322, filedSep. 14, 2016, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,621,836, issued Apr. 14, 2020. U.S.Ser. Nos. 16/812,949, 16/222,430, 15/899,677, and 15/265,322 areincorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

U.S. Ser. No. 15/265,203 is related to applications filed concurrentlytherewith under U.S. Ser. No. 15/265,322, entitled “Global Keypad forLinking the Control of Shows and Brightness Among Multiple ZonesIlluminated by Light Emitting Diodes Arranged Among a Structure”, whichissued Apr. 14, 2020, as U.S. Pat. No. 10,621,836, and Ser. No.15/265,422, entitled “Illumination System and Method that Presents aNatural Show to Emulate Daylight Conditions with Smoothing DimcurveModification Thereof”, which issued on May 17, 2017 as U.S. Pat. No.9,674,917.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

This invention relates to illumination devices comprising light emittingdiodes (LEDs), and keypads that can selectively control zone, scene, andshow illumination among the LED illumination devices arranged among astructure based on changes to correlated color temperature (CCT) as afunction of different dimcurves and brightnesses.

Description of Related Art

The following descriptions and examples are provided as background onlyand are intended to reveal information that is believed to be ofpossible relevance to the present invention. No admission is necessarilyintended, or should be construed, that any of the following informationconstitutes prior art impacting the patentable character of the subjectmatter claimed herein.

Illumination devices, sometimes referred to as lighting fixtures,luminaries or lamps include incandescent illumination devices,fluorescent illumination devices and the increasingly popular LEDillumination devices. LED illumination devices provide severaladvantages over traditional illumination devices, such as incandescentand fluorescent lighting fixtures. LED illumination devices have lowerpower consumption, longer lifetime, are constructed of minimal hazardousmaterials, and can be color tuned for different applications. Forexample, LED illumination devices provide an opportunity to adjust thechromaticity from red, to blue, to green, etc., or the correlated colortemperature (alternatively referred to simply as “color temperature”),from warm white, to cool white, etc.

An LED illumination device can combine a number of differently coloredemission LEDs into a single package. An example of a multi-color LEDillumination device is one in which two or more different chromaticityof LEDs are combined within the same package to produce white ornear-white light. There are many different types of white light LEDillumination devices on the market, some of which combine red, green,and blue (RGB) LEDs, red, green, blue, and yellow (RGBY) LEDs,phosphor-converted white and red (WR) LEDs, RGBW LEDs, etc. By combiningdifferent chromaticity colors of LEDs within the same package, anddriving the differently colored LEDs coated with or made of differentsemiconductor material, and with different drive currents, theseillumination devices can mix their chromaticity output and therebygenerate white or near-white light within a wide gamut of CCTs (colortemperatures) ranging from warm white (e.g., 2600 K-3700 K), to neutralwhite (e.g., 3700 K-5000 K) to cool white (e.g., 5000 K-6000 K, ordaylight (e.g., 6000 K-8300 K). Some multi-colored LED illuminationdevices also enable the brightness of the LED illumination device to bechanged to a particular setpoint. These tunable LED illumination devicesshould all produce the same color and color rendering index (CRI) whenset to a particular brightness and chromaticity on a standardizedchromaticity diagram.

A chromaticity diagram maps the gamut of colors the human eye canperceive in terms of chromaticity coordinates and spectral wavelengths.The spectral wavelengths of all saturated colors are distributed aroundthe edge of an outlined space (called the “gamut” of human vision),which encompasses all the hues perceived by the human eye. In the 1931CIE Chromaticity diagram shown in FIG. 1, colors within the gamut 10 ofhuman vision are mapped in terms of x/y chromaticity coordinates. Thechromaticity coordinates, or color points, which lie along the blackbodylocus, or curve 12, obey Planck's equation, E(λ)=Aλ⁻⁵/(e^((B/T))−1).Color points that lie on or near the blackbody curve 12 provide a rangeof white or near-white light with color temperatures ranging betweenapproximately 2000 K and 10,000 K. These color temperatures aretypically achieved by mixing light from two or more differently-coloredLEDs within the LED illumination device. For example, light emitted fromRGB LEDs may be mixed to produce a substantially white light with acolor temperature in the range of about 2300 K to about 6000 K. Althoughan illumination device is typically configured to produce a range ofwhite or near-white color temperatures arranged along the blackbodycurve 12 (e.g., about 2300 K to 6000 K), some illumination devices maybe configured to produce any color within the color gamut triangleformed by the individual LEDs.

At least part of the blackbody curve 12 is oftentimes referred to as the“daytime locus” corresponding to the Kelvin scale of color temperaturesof daytime. When implementing the daytime locus, it is desirable toemulate daytime color temperatures. Proper daytime emulation requiresthat target color temperatures increase after sunrise to noon localtime, and thereafter decrease after noon to sunset. It is furtherdesirable that the LED illumination devices arranged in various zonesthroughout the structure can thereafter appear as having the same targetcolor temperature as that of the natural changes in the sun orientationto that structure. If emulation is needed for more than one zone, thenone or more zones can be grouped into a scene. A scene is therefore madeup of an illumination output from a group of LED illumination devicesarranged throughout a structure as one or more zones. It is desirablethat either the LED illumination devices within a zone or within one ormore zones of a scene have the same illumination output at a particulartime. Thus, a scene containing a plurality of LED illumination devicesdesirably has the same brightness and color temperature at a particularmoment in time and thus is static for that scene. By its nature, a sceneis static in terms of the illumination output (color temperature andbrightness) for a period of time. Changing from one static scene toanother scene to form different illumination outputs among a pluralityof illumination devices within one or more zones forms what is known asa show. There may be other LED illumination devices within another scenethroughout the structure that can have a different brightness and/orcolor temperature. For example, the illumination devices within a firstscene can have a first brightness and/or color temperature, and theillumination devices within a second scene can have a second brightnessand/or color temperature. The first scene can be a first illuminationoutput from among a first group of illumination devices, whereas thesecond scene can be a second illumination output from among the samegroup of illumination devices, or from a different group of illuminationdevices.

It would be desirable to control each scene throughout the structurewith a keypad. Buttons on the keypad can be dedicated to change thebrightness and/or color temperature of a grouped scene of LEDillumination devices. By depressing possibly a single button, thebrightness and/or color temperature of a grouped plurality ofillumination devices that form a scene can change from a first staticillumination output to a second static illumination output until suchtime as the button is depressed again to make further illuminationoutput changes.

It would also be desirable to automatically change at various times ofday the static illumination output of the grouped scene of LEDillumination devices. The change can occur by depressing buttons on thekeypad at various times of day to change from one static output toanother, or the change can occur automatically and at pre-defined,periodic intervals without any user intervention. The automatic,periodic changes to the illumination output of a grouped scene of LEDillumination devices to another illumination output of the grouped sceneforms a show. It would be desirable to map the different brightnessand/or color temperature outputs from the grouped scene of LEDillumination devices on a dimcurve, and to periodically change at leasta portion of the dimcurve using buttons on the keypad. As a dimcurvechanges from, for example, a first dimcurve to a second dimcurve, thegrouped scene of LED illumination devices can change from one show alongthe first dimcurve to another show along the second dimcurve.

Although the term “scene” references at least one zone containing aplurality of LED illumination devices, scene hereinafter also referencesthe illumination output from the at least one zone and that outputcomprises a brightness and color temperature from the at least one zoneat a particular point in time and that extends for a period of timeuntil another scene having a different illumination output is produced.Thus, a series of scenes along a dimcurve, each possibly havingdifferent brightness and color temperature values, comprise thedynamically changing scenes that form a show. A scene thereforerepresents not only one or more zones, but also a static brightness andcolor temperature output from the zones that, when automatically changedthroughout the day, forms a show.

It is desirable that the target color temperatures needed to emulate thenatural changes in the sun orientation to a structure containing LEDillumination devices change not only as a function of brightness butalso as a function of the time of day. The changes in color temperaturesas a function of brightness and time of day form different dimcurvesthat at emulated sunrise, for example, the LED illumination devices canproduce 2300-2700 K predominant emulated red with some yellow sunrisesky, at noontime 5000-6500 K predominant emulated blue noontime sky, andagain at 2300-2700 K predominant emulated red sunset sky—similar to thedifferences between warm white, daytime/cool white, and back to warmwhite.

A need therefore exists in grouping LED illumination devices within oneor more zones of a structure to form a scene, and to statically changethe illumination output of the LED illumination devices of that groupedscene of illumination devices from one scene illumination output toanother (i.e., from a first brightness and/or first color temperature ofa first scene of the grouped scene of LED illumination devices to asecond brightness and/or second color temperature of a second scene ofthe same grouped scene of LED illumination devices). A need also existsin forming a series of scenes (albeit the same plurality of LEDillumination devices within the scene but with different brightnessand/or color temperatures) along a dimcurve and to dynamically changethe brightness and color temperature illumination output along thedimcurve to create a new dimcurve, and to map the color temperature andbrightness values of the series of scenes for each dimcurve. A scene canbe assigned to a particular time of day along a given dimcurve, withother scenes having different color temperature and brightness valuesassigned to other times of day. A further need exists for assigning thescenes, each having a mapped color temperature and brightness value, tovarious times of day to form a show. If the mapping is performed so thatthe color temperature emulates the daytime locus, the desired showbecomes a natural show that will automatically change the colortemperature output of the LED illumination devices within a scene at aparticular time of day, and among a series of scenes throughout the day,along a dimcurve that relates to the daytime locus. A need furtherexists to control changes to color temperature output from a zone or ascene, and to control the natural show by momentarily, permanently, orpersistently changing, in a smooth and non-disjointed fashion, thenatural show among scenes at various times of day using one or morebuttons on a single keypad, such as a global keypad.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An illumination system and method are provided for controlling colortemperature as a function of brightness. The predominant feature of anLED illumination device can be the color temperature and brightnessoutput therefrom. Various forms of white are needed throughout the dayto form a natural show along a dimcurve. The natural show, andspecifically the color temperature as a function of brightness, canchange to emulate the position of the sun to the structure and, moreparticularly, the outside daytime and nighttime natural sunlightcondition. An override or change to the natural show can be momentary,persistent, or permanent.

One mechanism to achieve color temperature control as a function ofbrightness is through use of a keypad that is communicatively linked toa plurality of LED illumination devices arranged about a structure. Theplurality of illumination devices can be grouped into one or more zoneswithin that structure, and one or more zones can be grouped to form ascene. According to one embodiment, a single keypad can control one ormore zones of illumination devices that are wire or wirelessly coupledto the keypad. The keypad can control the color temperatures orbrightness values associated with each zone, similarly. The keypad canalso control a scene of one or more zones of illumination devices,similarly. Control of the zone or scene can occur by depressing a buttonon the keypad to statically change the brightness or color temperaturefrom one state to another. The change can remain until the button isdepressed again. Thus, the zone or scene can be statically controlledeach time a button is depressed, until a button is depressed again.

A zone or scene can be statically controlled at specific times of day.As a series of scenes with the same plurality of LED illuminationdevices, but with different brightness and color temperatures, aremapped along a dimcurve to form a show, one or more of the scenes (andspecifically the brightness and color temperatures of a grouped scene ofillumination devices) can change in color temperature as a function ofbrightness and time of day. Automatic and periodic changes to staticillumination outputs of the same group of illumination devices can formmultiple scenes with different outputs along a dimcurve. If used toemulate daytime sunlight conditions, a mapped dimcurve will produce anincreasing color temperature of the same plurality of illuminationdevices arranged within a scene, and hereinafter is referred to as aseries of scenes with increasing color temperatures: scene A is a firstscene of illumination devices at a relatively low color temperature,increasing to scene B of the first scene of illumination devices at arelatively higher color temperature, increasing further to scene C ofthe first scene of illumination devices at an even higher colortemperature, etc. Even though scene A, scene B, scene C, etc., is thesame scene in terms of the group of LED illumination devices beingcontrolled, the color temperature as a function of brightness for thatgroup changes throughout the day to form different scenes since colortemperature can change nonetheless among the same scene or group ofillumination devices. Accordingly, a scene not only can represent thesame one or more zones (i.e., group of illumination devices) a scenealso represents the illumination output of the group of illuminationdevices as color temperatures in relation to brightness and at differenttimes of day to form a dimcurve having a sequence of scenes albeit fromthe same group of illumination devices.

According to one embodiment, for example, a sunrise illumination scenecan be one that produces a color temperature used to emulate sunrisecondition at a specific time of day, such as an hour after sunrise. Asunset scene, on the other hand, can be a scene possibly of the samegroup of illumination devices but has a color temperature output used toemulate sunset conditions and thus is specific to, for example, an hourbefore sunset.

A keypad arranged among the structure is communicatively coupled to aplurality of LED illumination devices, and the keypad preferablyincludes a plurality of buttons arranged upon the keypad. A first of theplurality of the buttons can be coupled to adjust brightness of theplurality of illumination devices within only the first zone, whereas asecond of the plurality of buttons can be coupled to adjust brightnessof the plurality of illumination devices within the illumination scene.The illumination scene can comprise the first zone, and preferably is astatic illumination output of brightness and color temperature. Thatstatic output can be adjusted in terms of either color temperature, orbrightness, or both. As noted above, the static, yet modifiable colortemperature and/or brightness values output from a particularillumination scene can be changed upon activation of one or more buttonson the keypad. Also, a series of scenes with different, yet each havingstatic illumination output can be dynamically changed by stringingtogether over the daytime and nighttime hours and mapping thestrung-together scenes to a dimcurve to form a show. That mappeddimcurve forms the natural show if the color temperatures along thedimcurve are targeted to emulate the outside daytime illumination by thesun or, during nighttime, by the absence of the sun. A third of theplurality of buttons can be coupled to enable the natural show byautomatically and periodically changing color temperature as a functionof brightness of the plurality of LED illumination devices within theillumination scene over a plurality of differing times of day.

According to another embodiment, the first of the plurality of buttonsfurther comprises a pair of first buttons. A first of the pair of firstbuttons is coupled to turn on and increase brightness of the pluralityof LED illumination devices within only the first zone. A second of thepair of first buttons is coupled to turn off and decrease brightness ofthe plurality of illumination devices within only the first zone. Thesecond of the plurality of buttons can further comprise a pair of secondbuttons. A first of the pair of second buttons is coupled to turn on andincrease brightness of the plurality of illumination devices within theillumination scene. A second of the pair of second buttons is coupled toturn off and decrease brightness of the plurality of illuminationdevices within the illumination scene.

According to yet another embodiment, the fourth of the plurality ofbuttons further comprises a pair of fourth buttons. A first of the pairof fourth buttons is coupled to turn on and increase color temperatureof the plurality of LED illumination devices within the illuminationscene. A second of the pair of fourth buttons is coupled to turn off anddecrease color temperature of the plurality of LED illumination deviceswithin the illumination scene. The fifth of the plurality of buttonsfurther comprises a pair of fifth buttons. A first of the pair of fifthbuttons is coupled to turn on and increase brightness of the pluralityof LED illumination devices within only the second zone. A second of thepair of fifth buttons is coupled to turn off and decrease brightness ofthe plurality of LED illumination devices within only the second zone.

The illumination system, in addition to LED illumination devices and akeypad, can also include a remote controller having a graphical userinterface (GUI). For example, programming control of a first and secondplurality of LED illumination devices assigned to a keypad occursthrough use of the remote controller and specifically the GUI of theremote controller. The GUI rendered on a screen of the remote controlleris remote from yet wirelessly coupled to the first and second pluralityof illumination devices as well as the keypad. On the GUI, a user canassign the first plurality of illumination devices to a first zone andthe second plurality of illumination devices to a second zone. On theGUI, a plurality of scenes can also be created, each having possibly aunique brightness and color temperature. Each of the plurality of scenescan be created to control the color temperature as a function ofbrightness and time of day for the first and second plurality ofillumination devices. Also on the GUI, a timed sequence of scenes can begrouped from among a plurality of scenes to form the natural show. Thenatural show extends along a first dimcurve having the highest colortemperature substantially near a midpoint in time between sunrise andsunset.

Brightness can be changed among the first plurality of illuminationdevices within the first zone and among the second plurality ofillumination devices within the second zone by depressing a first of theplurality of buttons on a first portion of the keypad and a fifth of theplurality of buttons on a second portion of the keypad, respectively.The natural show can also be changed to be along a second dimcurvehaving less brightness than the first dimcurve throughout the timedsequence of scenes at a color temperature among the first and secondplurality of illumination devices that changes differently along thesecond dimcurve than the first dimcurve.

According to one embodiment, the natural show can be permanently changedto be along the second dimcurve by changing brightness among the firstand second plurality of illumination devices for at least one sceneamong the time sequence of scenes by depressing the second of theplurality of buttons on a first portion and by thereafter depressing athird of the plurality of buttons on the first portion for apre-determined amount of time. The natural show can be persistentlychanged for a timeout period by changing the brightness among the firstand second plurality of illumination devices for at least one sceneamong the timed sequence of scenes by depressing the second of theplurality of buttons on the first portion and automatically, withoutuser intervention, changing brightness among the first and secondplurality of illumination devices back to the first dimcurve after atimeout has expired.

The natural show can also be changed to be along a second dimcurvehaving less brightness and less color temperature than the firstdimcurve among the first and second plurality of illumination devicesduring the time sequence of scenes. Yet the amount of said less colortemperature is dependent upon the time of day as a function of theamount of said less brightness. The natural show can then be permanentlychanged to be along the second dimcurve by changing brightness or colortemperature among the first and second plurality of illumination devicesfor at least one scene among the timed sequence of scenes by depressingthe second of the plurality of buttons on the first portion or thefourth of the plurality of buttons on the first portion, respectively,and thereafter depressing a third of the plurality of buttons on thefirst portion for a pre-determined amount of time. The natural show canalso be persistently changed by changing brightness and colortemperature among the first and second plurality of illumination devicesfor at least one scene among the timed sequence of scenes by depressingthe second of the plurality of buttons on the first portion. Brightnessand color temperature can be automatically changed among the first andsecond plurality of illumination devices back to the first dimcurvewithout user intervention after a timeout has expired.

According to yet another embodiment, the illumination system can beimplemented using a global keypad. Multiple groups of LED illuminationdevices can be arranged among respective multiple zones throughout thestructure. A singular, global keypad used to control all the LEDillumination devices among the structure is communicatively coupled tothe multiple groups of illumination devices and can include a pluralityof buttons arranged upon the global keypad. At least one of theplurality of buttons can enable a panic show to turn on and off inautomatic, periodic succession select ones of the multiple groups ofillumination devices.

In addition to, or as an alternative to, turning on and off inautomatic, periodic succession multiple groups of illumination devices,the global keypad can also enable the panic show to change color inselect ones of the multiple groups of illumination devices when anintruder is detected within the structure or within a pre-defineddistance of the structure. The changed color can be, for example, awhite to a red color to indicate presence of the intruder.

The singular, global keypad can therefore be implemented in a method forilluminating a structure. The method can comprise emitting light frommultiple groups of LED illumination devices within and proximate to astructure. A button can be depressed on the singular, global keypad toactivate the away mode of operation. Once an intruder is detectedwithin, or within a pre-defined distance of, the structure, the panicshow is initiated among select ones of the multiple groups ofillumination devices. The light emitted before the panic show can, forexample, be a natural show that automatically and periodically changescolor temperature as a function of brightness at a different time ofday. When the intruder is detected, the natural show discontinues, andthe panic show of periodic on/off illumination or change of color willbe initiated.

An important aspect of the control of various scenes begins by mappingvarious natural shows among a plurality of illumination scenes. A seriesof illumination scenes, each having different color temperatures as afunction of brightness and time of day forms a continuous dimcurve fromsunrise to sunset, and even beyond sunset into nighttime. According toone embodiment, it is beneficial to map multiple natural shows, ormultiple dimcurves, each having a plurality of illumination scenes, andeach scene on each dimcurve having a unique color temperature as afunction of brightness that is different from other scenes on thatdimcurve. Thus, the color temperature of all illumination devices isdesigned to change with brightness and time of day. However, the amountof change depends on the color temperature at full brightness. Thechanging color temperature at full brightness can be along a firstdimcurve, and as brightness decreases, a second, followed by a third,etc., dimcurve is formed. As brightness decreases, the subsequentdimcurves (second dimcurve, third dimcurve, etc.) illustrate that as aplurality of illumination devices associated with the scene produce 2700K at full brightness, the same plurality of LED illumination deviceswill produce a significantly lower color temperature at lower brightnessvalues. Meanwhile, the plurality of illumination devices producing 5000K at full brightness will produce only a slightly lower colortemperature at lower brightness values. Thus, the dimcurves, andspecifically, the changes in color temperature, are a function not onlyof full brightness but brightness in general. Color temperature is alsorelative to the time of day, so that each dimcurve at differentbrightness values, at full brightness and below, will have a differingmapped shape.

The mapping of color temperature at full brightness to form, forexample, the first dimcurve, and the mapping of color temperature atlower brightness values to form the second dimcurve, third dimcurve,etc., is fixed during the mapping, or provisioning process. The mapping,or provisioning process, occurs via the GUI and subsequent storage ofthe produced dimcurves within the plurality of LED illumination devices.Thereafter, the mapped dimcurves can be drawn, or fetched from theillumination devices when, for example, a control signal addressed tothe particular group of illumination devices is sent from the depressedbutton on the keypad.

According to a first embodiment, a system is provided for creatingdimcurve mappings of natural shows among a plurality of illuminationscenes. The system comprises a remote controller having a GUI that isadapted for creating a first scene and a second scene among theplurality of illumination scenes applied exclusively to a first group ofthe plurality of LED illumination devices. The GUI is further adapted toassign a first color temperature as a first function of brightness forthe first group of the plurality of illumination devices to form thefirst scene at a first time of day. The GUI is still further adapted toassign a second color temperature as the first function of brightnessfor the first group of the plurality of illumination devices to form thesecond scene at a second time of day different from the first time ofday. The storage medium within the first group of the plurality ofillumination devices is configured to store the first and second colortemperatures as a first function of brightness for the respective firstand second scenes to form at least a portion of a first dimcurve mappingof a first natural show.

The immediately preceding process can be repeated on the GUI to create athird scene and a fourth scene among the plurality of illuminationscenes, with third and fourth color temperatures assigned as a secondfunction of brightness for the first group of the plurality ofillumination devices. The ensuing third and fourth scenes can be storedwithin the storage medium as a second function of brightness to form atleast a portion of a second dimcurve mapping of a second natural show.

After the mappings of first and second dimcurves are achieved, the firstnatural show associated with the first dimcurve can thereafter be atleast partially changed to the second natural show associated with thesecond dimcurve. The method of changing from a first dimcurve to asecond dimcurve is preferably smooth and non-disjointed. To achieve asmooth and non-disjointed change, the method includes first fetching afirst dimcurve comprising a first series of scenes assigned to at leastone group of LED illumination devices, each of said first series ofscenes including a color temperature as the first function ofbrightness. The first series of scenes is then assigned a time-spaceddistance apart throughout the day to form the first natural showassociated with the first dimcurve of color temperatures that increasesfrom sunrise to noon and decreases from noon to sunset. The brightnessor color temperature of one of the first series of scenes at aparticular time of day between sunrise to sunset can then be changed. Ifthe changed brightness produces a color temperature of one of the firstseries of scenes within a pre-defined distance of a point on the seconddimcurve, a second fetching operation is achieved on at least aremaining portion of the second dimcurve comprising a second series of Nnumber of scenes preceding the changed scene and N number of scenessucceeding the changed scene.

Preferably, the point on the second dimcurve is a color temperature of ascene on that second dimcurve at a particular time of day. Thepre-defined distance is preferably 10% of the color temperature of thescene on the second dimcurve at the particular time of day. Thepre-defined distance is preferably less than 65 K. Each of the secondseries of N number of scenes preceding the changed scene and each of theN number of scenes succeeding the changed scene includes a colortemperature as a second function of brightness. Preferably, the secondfunction of brightness is different from the first function ofbrightness, and N is less than three.

According to an alternative embodiment, if the changed brightness orcolor temperature of one of the first series of scenes is within apre-defined color temperature or brightness of a scene on the seconddimcurve at the particular time of day, then the second fetching is thatof at least a portion of the second dimcurve comprising a second seriesof N number of scenes preceding the changed scene and N number of scenessucceeding the changed scene to provide a smooth and non-disjointedsecond natural show.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent uponreading the following detailed description and upon reference to theaccompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a graph of the 1931 CIE chromaticity diagram illustrating theblackbody curve of color perception or color temperatures, and the gamutof spectral wavelengths achievable by the illumination device comprisinga plurality of LEDs of different color.

FIG. 2 is a graph of changes in brightness throughout the daytime hours.

FIG. 3 is a graph of different dimcurves representing differentrelationships of color temperature as a function of changes inbrightness shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a graph of changes in brightness that vary throughout thedaytime hours.

FIG. 5 is a graph of different dimcurves representing differentrelationships of color temperature as a function of changes inbrightness shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a graph of changes in daytime color temperatures as a functionof changes in brightness values and the time of day to emulate a naturaldaytime illumination show and the associated different possibledimcurves representing different natural shows.

FIG. 7 is a table showing the relationship between a first brightnessvalue and three different color temperatures among three differentscenes during the natural show emulated along the first dimcurve of FIG.6.

FIG. 8 is a table showing the relationship between a second brightnessvalue less than the first brightness value, and three different colortemperatures among three different scenes during the natural showemulated along the second dimcurve of FIG. 6.

FIG. 9 is an exemplary block diagram of an illumination devicecomprising a power supply converter, a clocking circuit, a drivercircuit, a controller with storage medium, and a plurality of differentcolored LED chains.

FIG. 10 is an exemplary plan diagram of a habitable structure containinga plurality of illumination devices grouped into zones, with one or morezones grouped into scenes that can be similarly controlled in bothbrightness and color temperature.

FIG. 11 is an exemplary GUI provided on the remote controller of FIG. 9illustrating the grouping of physical illumination devices into zonesand shown on the GUI as virtual illumination devices that can be draggedand dropped into corresponding zones.

FIG. 12 is an exemplary GUI provided on the remote controller of FIG. 9illustrating the assignment of zones to keypads so that buttons of akeypad can control physical illumination devices grouped into zonesassigned to that keypad.

FIG. 13 is an exemplary GUI provided on the remote controller of FIG. 9illustrating the creation of a scene, or a series of scenescorresponding to one or more zones, and that can change over time toform a natural show having a color temperature that is a function ofboth brightness and the time of day.

FIG. 14 is an exemplary GUI provided on the remote controller of FIG. 9illustrating the assignment of the created scene and natural show to akeypad within the structure.

FIG. 15 is a plan view of buttons on a keypad, and the assignment ofzone, scene, and natural show control to the buttons of the keypad.

FIG. 16 is a flow diagram illustrating the generation of differentdimcurves at different times of day throughout the daytime to produce anatural show of changing color temperature as a function of brightnessthat can be stored in the storage medium of illumination devices groupedinto one or more zones, or scenes.

FIG. 17 is a flow diagram illustrating the programming of a preset scenebrightness value, increasing brightness of zones within the scene to thepreset scene brightness value, and decreasing brightness of illuminationdevices within the scene, a zone within the scene, orincreasing/decreasing color temperature of illumination devices withinthe scene.

FIG. 18 is a flow diagram illustrating the initiation of a natural showamong a zone or scene, and the momentary, persistent, or permanentmodification of the natural show.

FIG. 19 is a flow diagram of changes to brightness and/or temperatureamong preceding N number of scenes and subsequent N number of scenes toprovide a smoothing of any modification to the brightness and/or colortemperature of a current scene of illumination devices.

FIG. 20 is a graph of preceding and subsequent N number of changes tobrightness and/or color temperature among a scene of illuminationdevices to provide the smoothing change in brightness and/or colortemperature to the permanently changed current scene.

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications andalternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way ofexample in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. Itshould be understood, however, that the drawings and detaileddescription thereto are not intended to limit the invention to the formsdisclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover allmodifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spiritand scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Turning now to the drawings, FIG. 2 illustrates a change in brightnessthroughout daytime hours. For example, a full brightness (BR1)represents near maximum lumen value that can be output from one or moreLED illumination devices. The maximum brightness can be establishedeither by the manufacturer or by a user, and therefore can be any valuethat can vary from manufacturer to manufacturer or from user to user.Also shown in the graph of FIG. 2 is a change from maximum brightnessBR1 to a lessened brightness BR2, also throughout the daytime hours andpossibly extending to nighttime hours. The lessening of brightness canbe effectuated by activating a button or a slider on, for example, akeypad. The keypad would be communicatively coupled to the group of LEDillumination devices affected by that keypad and, specifically, thechange in brightness value can be proportional to the amount of time abutton is depressed, or the distance a slider is moved. In someinstances, however, the relationship between the brightness output froman illumination device is non-linear relative to actuation of a buttonor a slider. For example, depending on the button or slider, initialmovement of the button/slider may result in a small effect on the outputbrightness and, as further actuation occurs the brightness increases ordecreases non-linearly relative to actuation.

FIG. 3 illustrates another graph of different dimcurves that representdifferent relationships of color temperature as a function of the changein brightness shown in FIG. 2. At full brightness BR1, a first dimcurve(dimcurve 1) is produced. Specifically, dimcurve 1 represents changingcolor temperature dependent not only on the full brightness BR1 value,but also on the time of day. To emulate the position of sun relative tothe structure, and the path length between the sun and the structurethat contains the plurality of LED illumination devices, colortemperature must change throughout the day to emulate the naturalsunlight conditions produced by the sun's relative position. Duringsunrise and shortly thereafter, color temperature is much less thannoontime local time. The same can be said for sunset. The lower colortemperatures emulate the more red or yellow sunrise and sunset colorcoordinate of the warm white color temperatures, whereas the blue colorcoordinate predominates the noontime blue sky. The noontime blue skyapproaches that of more of a natural or daytime white, rather than thewarm white of the incandescent glow associated with sunrise and sunset.The first dimcurve has a color temperature that peaks near noontime anddecreases at times of day before noontime and after noontime.

As brightness decreases to, for example, BR2, as shown in FIG. 2, asecond dimcurve (dimcurve 2) shown in dashed line is formed. Likedimcurve 1, dimcurve 2 is illustrated in FIG. 3 as emulating the naturalsunlight conditions surrounding the structure. Therefore, dimcurve 2also has a color temperature that peaks near noontime and decreases nearsunrise and sunset.

As shown in FIG. 3, the color temperature of all LED illuminationdevices changes with brightness. However, the amount of change in colortemperature depends on the color temperature at full brightness BR1. Ifnatural sunlight emulation is to be achieved, color temperature alsodepends on the relative times of day. As shown in FIG. 3, an LEDillumination device producing 2300 to 2700 K at sunrise or sunset timesof day at full brightness (BR1) will produce a significantly lower colortemperature at a lower brightness (BR2). Yet, however, the LEDillumination device producing, for example, 5000 to 6500 K at noontimetime of day at full brightness (BR1) will produce only a slightly lowercolor temperature at lower brightness (BR2). The differences can beillustrated in reference to the differences in color temperatures at,for example, 5000 K-6500 K, shown by reference numeral 14, versus thecolor temperature at 2300 K-2700 K, shown by reference numeral 16.

FIG. 3 illustrates not only the formation of different dimcurves withchanges in brightness, but also that each dimcurve has a correspondinglydifferent relationship between color temperature and brightness. Forexample, dimcurve 2 demonstrates a greater change in color temperatureas a function of a reduced brightness BR2 than does the colortemperature change along dimcurve 1 at full brightness BR1. As will bedescribed in more detail below, each dimcurve represents a timedsequence of scenes, with each scene having its own color temperature asa function of brightness at a particular time of day. As differentscenes are aggregated along a dimcurve throughout the day, a naturalshow is formed. However, the natural show along the dimcurve 1 can bequite different from the natural show along dimcurve 2, with eachdimcurve having its own relationship between changes in colortemperature as a function of brightness. Each dimcurve, and theassociated scenes along each dimcurve, have a unique color temperaturerelationship to brightness that is preferably different from otherdimcurves so that the plurality of dimcurves that can be mappeddemonstrate differing changes in color temperature in relation tobrightness. To emulate natural sunlight conditions when forming anatural show, it is necessary to therefore map multiple dimcurves suchthat if the natural show changes, at least a portion of a mappeddimcurve can be fetched from local memory to thereafter present thechanged-to natural show among each of the LED illumination devicesundergoing a change. Mapping of multiple dimcurves is also needed foreach group of illumination devices among the structure.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are like FIGS. 2 and 3. However, FIG. 4 illustrates thatwhile the relative change in brightness is the same throughout the day,the absolute brightness values, both in BR1 and BR2, vary throughout theday. Based on the similar relative differences between BR1 and BR2 ofFIG. 4, FIG. 5 indicates a resulting LED illumination device producingapproximately the same difference in color temperatures among dimcurve 1and dimcurve 2, regardless of whether the color temperature is 2300K-2700 K or 5000 K-6500 K. The similarity is shown by reference numerals18 and 20 in FIG. 5.

Regardless of whether the brightness change throughout the day issimilar in absolute terms, as in FIG. 2, or in relative terms, as inFIG. 4, the graphs in FIGS. 3 and 5, respectively, illustrate that colortemperature of a controlled group of LED illumination devices changesthroughout the day differently with brightness change—either in absoluteor in relative. Moreover, FIGS. 3 and 5 illustrate that multipledimcurves must be mapped so that when a change is made to a naturalshow, the appropriate change can be found within a previously mappeddimcurve and the smoothing of transition to the new natural show canoccur with minimal user perception of that change, both prior to andafter the change of a particular scene was made.

Referring to FIG. 6, two dimcurves, dimcurve 1 and dimcurve 2, are shownduring daytime hours between sunrise and sunset. It is understood andpreferred that there are more than two dimcurves that can be mapped, andthe daytime hours can extend into nighttime hours for more than twodimcurves during a 24-hour period. However, for sake of brevity, FIG. 6shows only two dimcurves indicating changes in daytime colortemperatures as a function of changes in brightness throughout the dayto emulate a natural daytime illumination show with associated differentpossible dimcurves representing different natural shows. To emulatedaylight conditions, the color temperature during noontime local can be5000 K or greater, whereas the color temperature from sunrise to an hourafter sunrise, for example, can be 2700 K or less. The same would applyto an hour before sunset to sunset, with a color temperature of 2700 Kor less. Of course, the color temperatures can vary more than an hourafter sunrise and less than an hour before sunset to produce,preferably, a smooth dimcurve at multiple scenes and associated timesbetween sunrise and noon as well as between noon and sunset. The smoothdimcurve can also extend before sunrise and after sunset to includenighttime, if desired, with a nighttime color temperature at or nearzero Kelvin.

Shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 is a sequence of scenes separated in time foreach dimcurve. For example, scene A represents a brightness and colortemperature along dimcurve 1 of BR1 and CCTA (color temperature A),shown in FIG. 7. The scene A along dimcurve 1 is also shown in FIG. 6.As noted above, a scene represents a group of one or more zones of LEDillumination devices having a static illumination output of colortemperature and brightness at a particular moment in time. As timeprogresses from scene A to scene B, of the same plurality of LEDillumination devices, along dimcurve 1, although the brightness canremain at, for example, full brightness or BR1, the color temperature isshown to decrease to CCTB. Meanwhile, as the show progresses alongdimcurve 1 to scene C, the full brightness BR1 remains, yet the colortemperature further decreases to CCTC as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7.

The purpose in having multiple dimcurves mapped to a local storagedevice within one or more groups of LED illumination devices isillustrated in the comparison between FIGS. 7 and 8, as shown in thegraph of FIG. 6. If a different natural show is to be selected from, forexample, a dimcurve 2 instead of dimcurve 1, brightness can be reduced,as shown by BR2 being less than BR1 at scenes A, B, and C along dimcurve2. However, a decrease in brightness from BR1 to BR2 produces anincreased reduction in color temperature from scene A to scene B toscene C along dimcurve 2, relative to dimcurve 1. This is shown in FIG.8, with CCTA along dimcurve 2 slightly less than that of CCTA alongdimcurve 1, yet CCTB along dimcurve 2 is more so less than CCTB alongdimcurve 1, and CCTC along dimcurve 2 is even more so less than that ofCCTC along dimcurve 1. The quantities by which the color temperaturesfurther decrease relative to an equal decrease in brightness from BR1 toBR2 is not of consequence as much as to denote the greater change incolor temperature among scenes along dimcurve 2 than along dimcurve 1.This effect is therefore represented as the amount of color temperaturechange present in LED illumination, that change being one that occursdifferently with changes in brightness. The color temperature changethroughout the day therefore not only depends on the color temperatureat full brightness, but also depends on the amount of change inbrightness from full brightness BR1 to a lower brightness BR2, withgreater change near sunrise and sunset than during noon no matter theamount of brightness change.

FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of an LED illuminationdevice 24 according to one embodiment of the invention. The LEDillumination device 24 provides one example of the hardware and softwarethat may be used to implement a method of emulating natural sunlightboth dynamically and automatically, and thereafter manually overridingthat emulation when one or more lighting tasks are needed. Moreover, theLED illumination device 24 can be among a plurality of LED illuminationdevices within a zone or within one or more zones which constitute ascene.

LED illumination device 24 comprises a plurality of emission LEDs 26and, in this example, comprises four chains of any number ofserially-connected LEDs. Each chain 28 may have two to four LEDs of thesame color, which are coupled in series and configured to receive thesame drive current. In one example, the emission LEDs 26 may include achain of red LEDs, a chain of green LEDs, a chain of blue LEDs, and achain of white or yellow LEDs. However, the preferred embodiments arenot limited to any particular number of LED chains, any particularnumber of LEDs within each chain, or any particular color or combinationof the LED colors. In some embodiments, the emission LEDs 26 may bemounted on a substrate and encapsulated within a primary optic structureof an emitter module, possibly along with one or more photodetectors.

In addition to emission LEDs 26 configured into a set of chains 28,illumination device 24 includes various hardware and software componentsfor powering the LEDs 26 and controlling the light output from the oneor more emitter modules. In the embodiments shown in FIG. 9, LEDillumination device 24 is connected to AC mains 42 and includes an AC/DCconverter 44 for converting the AC mains voltage (e.g., 120 V or 240 V)to a DC voltage (V_(DC)). The DC voltage (e.g., 15 V) is supplied to LEDdriver circuits 46 to produce the drive currents, which are supplied tothe emission LEDs 26 for producing illumination. In the embodiment ofFIG. 9, a DC/DC converter 48 is included for converting the DC voltage(V_(DC)) to a lower voltage V_(L) (e.g., 3.3 V), which is used to powerthe lower voltage circuitry of the illumination device 24, such as thephase-locked loop (PLL) 50, interface 52, and control circuitry, orcontroller 54. In other embodiments, illumination device 24 may bepowered by a DC voltage source (e.g., a battery), instead of AC mains42. In such embodiments, the illumination device may be coupled to theDC voltage source and may or may not include a DC/DC converter in placeof the AC/DC converter 44. Additional timing circuitry may be needed toprovide timing and synchronization signals to the controlling drivercircuits.

In the illustrated embodiment, PLL 50 is included within illuminationdevice 24 for providing timing and synchronization signals. PLL 50 canlock onto the AC mains frequency and can produce a high-speed clock(CLK) signal and synchronization signal (SYNC). The CLK signal providestiming signals for the controller 54 and LED driver circuits 46. In oneexample, the CLK signal frequency is in the tens of MHz range (e.g., 23MHz), and is synchronized to the AC mains frequency and phase. The SYNCsignal is used by the controller 54 to create the timing signal used tocontrol the LED driver circuits 46. In one example, the SYNC signalfrequency is proportional to the AC mains frequency and can be at afrequency of 50 or 60 MHz with a phase alignment with the AC mains.

In a preferred embodiment, interface 52 may be included withinillumination device 24 for receiving data sets, or content, from anexternal calibration tool. The calibration tool is preferably a remotecontroller 53 that, during provisioning or commissioning of the LEDillumination devices 24, performs a mapping function of variousdimcurves contained in datasets or content stored in the illuminationdevices 24. The data sets or content generated by or received viainterface 52 may be stored in a mapping table within storage medium 56of controller 54, for example. Examples of data sets or content that maybe received via interface 52 include, but are not limited to, variousluminous flux (i.e., brightness values associated with intensity),wavelength, chromaticity of the light emitted by each LED chain, and asdescribed in more detail below, various color temperatures as a functionof brightness along certain dimcurves, and the association into zones orscenes of a plurality of LED illumination devices arranged within astructure. The mapping information can be assigned through a GUI uponremote controller 53, with each mapped dimcurve having a plurality ofscenes and each scene having a unique color temperature as a function ofbrightness along that dimcurve. The plurality of dimcurves, and scenesassociated with each dimcurve, as well as the grouping of illuminationdevices among zones and one or more zones (scenes) within a structure,also occurs through user input via the GUI, with storage medium 56containing the mapped results as well as identifiers for the respectiveillumination device among a zone or scene.

Coupled by wire or wireless to interface 52 is a keypad 55. Keypad 55comprises a plurality of buttons used to control the illumination device24. However, control by keypad 55 is based on the datasets stored instorage medium 56 via the provisioning, commissioning, and mappingfunctionality carried out by remote controller 53, and specifically theGUI of remote controller 53. Keypad 55, and specifically the buttonsupon keypad 55, allow for user actuation and the enabling of variousnatural shows stored as various dimcurves and resulting mapped datasetswithin storage medium 56. Keypad 55 can also be used to override anatural show, and that override can be either momentary or persistent.Keypad 55 can also be used to permanently change a natural show so that,after change, the changed-to natural show will remain. Thereafter, andat various times of day, a different scene will appear than that whichwas present in the previous show. Keypad 55 not only allows changes to ashow, either momentarily, persistently, or permanently, but can change astatic setting, such as a single scene among one or more zones within astructure. One or more buttons upon keypad 55 can therefore change thecolor temperature setting or the brightness setting among a scene or azone.

As will be noted in more detail below, various buttons on keypad 55 sendcontrol signals to interface 52, and those control signals enabledifferent functionality based on the data sets stored in control medium56 of the grouped plurality of LED illumination devices 24 beingcontrolled. Interface 52 can therefore comprise a wireless interfacethat is configured to operate according to ZigBee, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, orany other proprietary or standard wireless data communication protocol.In other embodiments, interface 52 can communicate optically usinginfrared (IR) light or visible light. Still further, interface 52 maycomprise a wired interface, such as one or more wired conductors or abus to keypad 55. For example, if remote controller 53 is part of keypad55, then interface 52 communicates via remote controller 53 over thewired connection of keypad 55. Preferably, however, the remotecontroller 53 is separate from keypad 55 and is used in the provisioningor mapping process. Remote controller 53, if separate, is preferablywirelessly connected to interface 52 using, for example, ZigBee wirelessdata communication protocol. Keypad 55, however, can be eitherwirelessly coupled or wired to interface 52. In a preferred embodiment,keypad 55 is both wired and wirelessly coupled to interface 52 since LEDillumination devices have photodetectors that can receive the controlsignals of keypad 55 or can also receive control signals through a wiredconductor.

Both keypad 55 as well as remote controller 53 can include a timer, suchas a real-time clock. The timer can send a plurality of time-of-daysignals to the controller 54 via interface 52. For example, if theremote controller 53 comprises the physical keypad 55 or is separatefrom the physical keypad 55, either the remote controller 53 or thephysical keypad 55 can have a real-time clock. The real-time clock,depending on the calendar day and time of day, periodically sends atime-of-day signal from among a plurality of time-of-day signals. Thetime-of-day signal is unique to the local calendar day and local time ofday and is output by the timer to the plurality of LED illuminationdevices 24, each of which have an interface 52 communicatively coupledto the remote controller 53 and/or keypad 55.

In addition to the time-of-day signals sent from remote controller 53and/or keypad 55, LED illumination devices 24 are also time synchronizedfrom PLL 50. Controller 54 receives the time-of-day signals as well asthe SYNC signal and calculates, based on color temperature mappings as afunction of brightness and time of day stored in medium 56, and producesvalues indicating a desired drive current to be supplied to each of theLED chains 28. This information may be communicated from controller 54to LED driver circuits 46 over a serial bus conforming to a standard,such as SPI or I²C, for example. In addition, controller 54 may providea latching signal that instructs the LED driver circuits 46 tosimultaneously change the drive current supply to each of the LED chains28 to prevent brightness and color artifacts.

Controller 54 may be configured for determining respective drivecurrents needed to achieve a desired luminous flux, or brightness, forthe illumination device 24 and specifically the LED chains 28 ofillumination device 24 in accordance with one or more systems andmethods described in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 14/314,530,published on Dec. 31, 2015 as U.S. Publication No. 2015/0382422 A1;14/314,580, issued on Jul. 12, 2016 as U.S. Pat. No. 9,392,663; and14/481,081, published on Mar. 3, 2016 as U.S. Publication No.2016/0066384 A1, which are commonly assigned and incorporated herein intheir entirety. In the preferred embodiment, controller 54 may befurther configured for adjusting the ratio of drive current supplied tothe emission LED chains 28 and to all the LED chains 28 concurrently.Changing the ratio effects a change in color temperature and changingthe chains similarly can change brightness. Controller 54 can also chaineither similarly all the chains the same or chains differently so as notto exceed a maximum safe current level or a maximum safe power levelattributed to one or more power converters of the LED illuminationdevice 24 at a preset operating temperature as determined by atemperature sensor, for example.

In some embodiments, controller 54 may determine the respective drivecurrents by executing program instructions stored within storage medium56. In one embodiment, the storage medium 56 that stores the mappingsnecessary to derive various dimcurves as well as the groupings ofillumination devices among zones and scenes, and further the brightnessvalue and color temperature value changes via brightness and colortemperature of control signals sent thereto, may be configured forstoring the program instructions along with a table of calibrationvalues, as described, for example, in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos.14/314,451, published on Dec. 31, 2015 as U.S. Publication No.2015/0377699 A1, and 14/471,057, issued on Jul. 12, 2016 as U.S. Pat.No. 9,392,660, which are commonly assigned and incorporated herein intheir entirety. Alternatively, controller 54 may include combinatoriallogic for determining the desired drive currents, either as a ratio orsimilarly among the LED chains 28. The storage medium 56 need only beused for storing the mapping tables of dimcurves and thebrightness/color temperature output values among each dimcurve inresponse to control signals.

In general, LED driver circuits 46 may include a number of driver blocksequal to the number of emission LED chains 28 included within the LEDillumination device 24. In one embodiment, LED driver circuits 46comprise four driver blocks, each configured to produce illuminationfrom a different chain 28 of the emission LED chains 28, as shown inFIG. 9. Each driver block can therefore receive data indicating adesired drive current from controller 54, along with a latching signalindicating when the driver block should change the drive current intoeach respective LED chain 28. An example of the various driver blocksneeded for each respective LED chain as controlled by the LED drivers 46is set forth in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/970,990, which iscommonly assigned and incorporated herein in its entirety.

DC/DC converter 48 may include substantially any type of DC/DC powerconverter including, but not limited to, buck converters, boostconverters, buck-boost converters, Ćuk converters, single-endedprimary-inductor converters, or flyback converters. AC/DC converter 44may likewise include substantially any type of AC/DC power converterincluding, but not limited to, buck converters, boost converters,buck-boost converters, etc. Each of these power converters generallycomprise a number of inductors (or transformers) for storing energyreceived from an input voltage source, a number of capacitors forsupplying energy to a load, and a switch for controlling the energytransfer between the input voltage source and the load. The outputvoltage supplied to the load by the power converter may be greater thanor less than the input voltage source, depending on the type of powerconverter used.

Among the various advantages of LED illumination devices, such as device24 in FIG. 9, is that LEDs offer distinct opportunities of being able tointegrate artificial light with natural light, and to provide helpfullighting through dynamic lighting mechanisms. One particular niche ofLED illumination devices is in the generation of artificial sunlight fora variety of reasons, especially for treating human ailments such ascircadian rhythm disorders, seasonal affective disorders, shift workcondition disorders, etc. The mechanism by which any conventional LEDillumination device replicates or “emulates” natural sunlight conditionsis through use of sensors. However, sensors can detect sunlightconditions within a structure interior to that structure and createartificial lighting from the illumination device that attempts toreplicate the natural sunlight condition or the emulated sunlightoutside the structure. Unfortunately, sensors have limitations both intechnology and the location where those sensors are located. The sensorstherefore do not always accurately detect the exterior sunlightconditions, and the outdoor natural sunlight conditions sometimes cannotbe properly emulated.

According to a preferred embodiment, alternative mechanisms that keeptrack of the time of day and send a plurality of time-of-day values froma timer within the remote controller 53 and/or keypad 55 is preferred.Use of timers and time-of-day values proves beneficial if the circadianshow is to be tailored differently depending on the room in which thesunlight is being emulated. Sensors cannot tailor emulation depending onthe room, but instead sense and provide emulation consistentlythroughout the structure depending on where the sensors are located.Grouping of illumination devices on a room-by-room basis and controllingeach room separately using different keypads 55 with differentassociated timers within those keypads that control each roomseparately, with different time-of-day values, is therefore indigenousto timers and not sensors—an added benefit of not using sensors tocontrol sunlight emulation in the bedroom different from the kitchen,for example.

Emulating the natural sunlight conditions involves generating a naturalshow through use of a timer that manipulates and updates emulation froma grouped set of LED illumination devices based on calendar day and timeof day, and that functionality is performed automatically anddynamically throughout the day. The automatic emulation occurs as adynamically changing natural show that continues automatically withoutuser intervention, and specifically continues to change the colortemperature output as a function of brightness and in response to theillumination devices receiving the time-of-day signal sent from thetimer. Automatic emulation and the automatically changing of colortemperatures as a function of brightness and time of day occurs withoutthe user actuating a trigger; that functionality is reserved for themanual override and not the automatic natural show.

As the angular relationship between the sun and the structure containingthe plurality of illumination devices changes throughout the day, thecorresponding natural show must also change. Importantly, the spectraldistribution of sunlight, specifically the spectral radiance ofsunlight, changes with path length between the sun and the structure.Shorter wavelengths can be more sensitive and produce greater spectralradiance at shorter path lengths than do longer wavelengths. To emulatethe changes in natural sunlight conditions within an artificial lightingsystem, such as the present LED illumination system, or devices, the LEDillumination device must change its color temperature output throughoutthe day based on the changing path lengths.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a structure 60 containing a pluralityof LED illumination devices 24. LED illumination devices 24 aresometimes interchangeably referred to as LED lamps, fixtures, orluminaires. A residence may have numerous rooms, such as bedrooms,living rooms, kitchen, etc. Preferably, each LED illumination device 24comprises at least one LED, and more preferably, several LED chains 28,where each chain can produce a corresponding color within a chromaticityregion. Illumination devices 24 can include PAR illumination devicesshown as downlights 24 a within, for example, a living room, and otherPAR illumination devices 24 b as downlights within, for example, abedroom. The living room can have multiple downlights labeled 24 a,whereas the bedroom can have multiple downlights labeled 24 b. Next tothe couch within, for example, the living room, are tables on which, forexample, A20 illumination devices 24 c can be configured.

Each illumination device 24 communicates with the remote controller 53,the keypad 55, and other illumination devices via the communicationinterface 52 using a communication protocol described above as, forexample, ZigBee, as well as possibly WPAN using IEEE 802.15.4. The LEDillumination devices 24 can therefore wirelessly communicate with eachother, as well as with the remote controller 53 and physical keypad 55.A keypad 55 controls a group of LED illumination devices. For example, aphysical keypad 55 a can be placed in a living room to control the groupof illumination devices within the living room, whereas another keypad55 b can be placed in a bedroom to control the LED illumination deviceswithin the bedroom.

The keypads within structure 60, labeled 55 a, 55 b, are generallyreferred to as physical keypads. As will be noted later, the physicalkeypads can be represented by virtual keypad icons shown on a GUI, suchas the GUI of remote controller 53. Likewise, the physical illuminationdevices 24 a, 24 b, 24 c within a structure 60 of FIG. 10 can also berepresented as virtual illumination device icons on a GUI of, forexample, remote controller 53. The virtual illumination devices andkeypads shown on a GUI can appear to look like the correspondingphysical illumination devices and keypads and can be used not only forgrouping purposes but also for provisioning the functionality of each ofthe physical illumination devices when instilling the data sets andcontrol functionality within the storage medium 56 of each LEDillumination device within a group that is controlled by the physicalkeypad 55. In addition to the physical illumination devices and physicalkeypads arranged throughout a structure, a global keypad 57 can beconfigured near, for example, a common area such as the entry doorway ofa structure for globally controlling multiple zones and/or scenesthroughout the structure as will be described herein below.

Turning now to FIG. 11, a GUI 65 can be presented on a display screen ofremote controller 53. GUI 65 illustrates one example in which the actualphysical LED illumination devices arranged throughout structure 60,shown in FIG. 10, can be grouped based on their location and function.The mechanism for providing the grouping as well as the function of theillumination devices will be disclosed below when describing thegrouping mechanism as well as the scene/show assignment mechanism. Forexample, a location—such as a bathroom—can have different groups ofillumination devices 24, with each group being associated with a zone.Moreover, the physical LED illumination devices of one or more groupscan be further grouped into a scene. For example, the simplest form of ascene is a half bath within a structure 60 having two zones. A firstzone can be associated with the vanity of the half bath, and a secondzone can be associated with overhead lights of the half bath. The firstand second zones can be combined into a scene that accounts for all theLED illumination devices within the half bathroom.

FIG. 11 illustrates one embodiment in which after all the physicalillumination devices 24 and physical keypads 55, 57 are installed in astructure, the physical illumination devices and keypads are discovered.The discovery process involves moving the remote controller 53 aroundthe structure when a user instructs the remote controller 53 on the GUIof the remote controller 53 to discover all devices (illuminationdevices and keypads) throughout the structure. The discovery processoccurs through a command on the GUI 65 of the controller, and the dongleof the remote controller 53 then broadcasts a message instructing allillumination devices and keypads that receive the message, eitherdirectly or through any number of hops, to respond with their unique IDnumber, often referred to as the MAC address. The unique MAC address ofeach of the illumination devices and keypads is sent back to the remotecontroller 53. If the remote controller 53 is a personal computer or aphone having a screen, it will display on the screen a set of GUI icons,where each icon is associated with a corresponding physical illuminationdevice or keypad. Moreover, the MAC addresses sent back to the remotecontroller identify whether the discovered device is an illuminationdevice or a keypad. Also, knowing where each MAC address is installed inthe structure, the icons representing virtual illumination devices andvirtual keypads will correspond to their respective physicalillumination devices and physical keypads that have responded.

For example, as shown in FIG. 11, in an installation with sixteen PARillumination devices 24 in a room or the entire structure, sixteenvirtual illumination devices 39, or icons 39, will appear. The virtualkeypads will appear at a later step also as icons on a subsequent GUI.An indication that all the illumination devices have been discoveredoccurs when an acknowledge message is sent back from each of thephysical illumination devices 24 to the remote controller 53. This willthen cause each LED illumination device to turn a detectable color, suchas blue, and each keypad that is also discovered will blink. Each of thediscovered illumination devices and keypads will appear as virtualillumination devices 39 and virtual keypads on the GUI. If all the LEDillumination devices do not turn, for example, blue or the physicalkeypads blink upon user inspection by walking around the structure, notall acknowledge messages have been returned and thus the missingacknowledge message of the unique MAC address would indicate a non-blueLED illumination device or keypad has not been discovered. Remedialmeasures would then need to be taken, as described below. However, ifall illumination devices turn blue and the physical keypads blink uponinspection, then the corresponding virtual illumination devices andkeypads will appear on the GUI.

After all the physical LED illumination devices 24 and the physicalkeypads 55, 57 have been discovered, the next step is grouping. In thegrouping procedure, physical illumination devices that need to becontrolled together are assigned a specific group address. As shown inFIG. 11, during the grouping mechanism, group addresses are downloadedinto storage medium 56 of each of the illumination devices within thatgroup. Therefore, during a control mechanism, a single button actuationof a physical keypad 55 will cause a control message to be sent from thekeypad 55 to address via a single groupcast message all the unique MACaddresses associated to that unique group address. The groupcast messagewill then launch the content associated with that addressed group ofphysical illumination devices 24 via a microprocessor fetch mechanism.

There can be different types of remote controllers 53. A remotecontroller 53 can simply include a dongle with a USB interface and radioplugged into the USB port of a mobile device. If remote controller 53 isto communicate through a hub or bridge, then remote controller 53communicates using a different protocol than the protocol with which thevarious illumination devices 24 communicate with each other as well asthe keypad 55, 57. As will be noted herein below, the term “illuminationdevice” or “LED illumination device” refers to the physical device,whereas whenever the use of the term “virtual” is used, that term refersto the icon representation of the physical illumination device orphysical keypad on a GUI. The representation, icon, or virtual depictionon the GUI is not the physical device but nonetheless each virtualdepiction corresponds to a physical device.

During the discovery phase, when the broadcast discovery signal is sentfrom remote controller 53 through the mesh network from hop-to-hop withcorresponding acknowledge-back, a routing table is formed. The broadcastdiscovery and acknowledge-back that forms the routing table does sohaving a destination address and a next-hop address for each of the LEDillumination devices. The routing table is stored in the storage mediumof each of the LED illumination devices 24 throughout the structure 60,along with what is described later as the group addresses and thecontent associated with each group address. The group address andcontent comprise a groupcast table. An example of the mechanism forforming a groupcast table with data set content associated with a groupof illumination devices as stored in the storage medium of eachillumination device with a group is set forth in commonly-assigned U.S.patent application Ser. No. 15/041,166, which is herein incorporated byreference in its entirety.

The discovery process by which all the LED illumination devices andkeypads throughout the structure are found and displayed in thecorresponding GUIs of a remote controller is typically only done oncewhen the illumination devices and keypads are installed in thestructure. However, if an LED illumination device 24 or a keypad 55 isreplaced, that illumination device or keypad can have a different mappedaddress, and thus the discovery process must be repeated anytime theillumination system is modified. The structure of the illuminationsystem, and thus the network of illumination devices and keypads, is notpredetermined by installation like the cabling network of a wirednetwork. Instead, it may be determined by the plurality of physicalconditions, like the distance or shielding materials between neighboredillumination devices, walls, or other devices between the illuminationdevices 24, or even by electromagnetic interference by electricappliances or other devices within the structure 60.

To compute the network configuration, the broadcast is preferablytriggered by the remote controller 53. The broadcast message istransmitted by addressing the messages to a pre-defined broadcastaddress, to which all physical devices (LED illumination devices 24 andkeypads 55, 57) are listening. For example, the broadcast signal can bereceived first by those devices that are near the remote controller 53.Those illumination devices 24 can then forward the broadcast message toother illumination devices, which further forward the messages to evenfurther distal illumination devices via the aforesaid hop mechanism. Theacknowledge-back signal can be transmitted as a unicast or directmessage back to the remote controller 53 that sent the broadcast. Eachillumination device 24 that sends such a unicast message must receive anacknowledge to prevent such illumination devices from resending the samemessage. Thus, the return acknowledge reply is sent by the remotecontroller 53 back through the mesh network, also as a unicast message.

During the discovery process, it is fairly time consuming to broadcast,receive, and acknowledge back, and thereafter send an acknowledge reply.However, since the discovery process happens infrequently, and onlygenerally during the configuration of the illumination system duringinitial install or replacement, a time consumptive discovery processthat takes multiple seconds is generally acceptable to the user.

Turning back to FIG. 11, after the discovery process is complete, andall the LED illumination devices 24 and keypads 55 have been discoveredand represented on a GUI of remote controller 53, grouping can thenbegin. On the left-hand portion of GUI 65 is an icon that representseither zones or keypads. When the zone icon is selected, as indicated, aseries of zones Z1, Z2, etc., can appear as shown by numeral 68. Thezones icons 68 are not named until a user provides a name, and at thisstage can simply be labeled Z1, Z2, etc., such as a default name givento the zone icons 68. At some point, however, the zones can be given aname and, using the very simple example described above, there may onlybe two zones associated with a half bath, where the zones can be labeledfirst bathroom vanity and first bathroom overhead light.

As further shown in FIG. 11, after the illumination devices 24 have beendiscovered and appear as virtual illumination devices 39 in the rightportion of GUI 65, one or more LED illumination devices 24 can begrouped by clicking on the corresponding virtual illumination device 39on the GUI, and that virtual illumination device 39 may blink or changeto a different color. The corresponding physical illumination device 24associated with the clicked-on virtual illumination device may alsochange color, or blink. In this fashion, the user will then know thecorrespondence between a virtual illumination device 39 and itsassociated physical illumination device 24 within the structure.

In the above example, there may be two A20 illumination devices in thehalf-bath vanity, and two PAR38 illumination devices in the overheadlight. The user may wish to control these two groups of LED illuminationdevices 24 independently so that the vanity may illuminate separate fromthe overhead light. Thus, when the remote controller 53 is brought intothe half bathroom, and the four virtual illumination devices 39 appearon GUI 65, a user can click on one of the virtual illumination devicesand a corresponding light in, for example, the vanity, may blink. Theuser can then simply drag and drop the virtual illumination device 39corresponding to one of the lights in the vanity into zone 1, Z1. Thesame is repeated for the remaining three lights, with the vanity lightsgrouped into zone 1, and the overhead lights grouped into zone 2, Z2.The benefit of being able to visually detect blinking icons and theircorresponding blinking physical illumination devices 24, and then basedon where the LED illumination devices 24 reside within the structure,dragging and dropping the virtual illumination device in the appropriatezone, is a key feature conveniently carried out using the remotecontroller 53. The drag-and-drop feature upon a GUI having a touchscreen user actuation thereof can be effectuated by a simple download ofan application onto the mobile device that constitutes the remotecontroller 53. That application can further allow the user to name thevarious zones on the GUI 65 for simple reference as to which group ofLED illumination devices are controlled by a keypad which controls thatzone.

Assigning zones to keypads is therefore the next step and is illustratedin GUI 70 of FIG. 12. For example, in the half-bathroom scenario withtwo zones, a keypad 55 can exist near a doorway within that bathroom.Configuring a particular keypad begins by selecting a keypad icon 72 inthe left portion of GUI 70. That virtual keypad can be identified as thebathroom keypad, for example, if in the half-bathroom scenario physicalkeypad 55 in the half bath begins blinking when a particular virtualkeypad 74 among a plurality of keypads also blinks. Thus, the procedureis that if keypad 72 is identified by a user clicking on keypad icon 72,a plurality of keypads will appear in the middle portion of GUI 70. If auser clicks on keypad 74 from among the plurality of keypads, and thatselected virtual keypad 74 corresponds to the MAC address of thephysical keypad within, for example, the half bathroom, then thehalf-bathroom physical keypad will blink corresponding to blinking ofthe virtual keypad 74 representing that half-bathroom physical keypad55. As an alternative to blinking, some other form of visual indicationcan also be implemented, such as a change in color or, possibly, anaudible signal can be sent from the corresponding physical keypad 55.Regardless of the indication, whether visual or audible, somecorrespondence is detected between a virtual keypad 74 and the keypadwithin the structure.

If the keypad within the structure is the half-bath keypad 55 used tocontrol two zones, that bathroom keypad 55 comprises two portions. Thetwo portions are shown as the virtual keypad icon 74 identical to whatwould appear in the physical keypad, with the first portion noted as 74a and the second portion as 74 b. The first portion of the physicalkeypad is associated with a first gang of a two-gang switchbox andcomprises, for example, seven buttons, whereas the second portion 74 bcomprises two buttons. As will be described below, the first portioncontrols, among other items, brightness of zone 1 associated with thehalf-bath vanity, whereas the second portion 74 b controls onlybrightness of the second zone associated with the half-bath overheadlight, using the above simple example. GUI 70 of remote controller 53shown in FIG. 12 not only allows for selection of keypads, but alsoassignment of zones in which a plurality of keypads are grouped to eachof the selected keypads and portions thereof. While the first portion isassociated with a first gang of a two-gang switchbox, a second portioncan be associated with a second gang of the two-gang switchbox. If akeypad is to control more than two zones, then the correspondingswitchbox would be a multi-gang switchbox, with each zone of multiplezones assigned to a corresponding gang so that the zones can becontrolled individually. As shown on the GUI 70 of FIG. 12, the virtualkeypad 76 can correspond to a keypad 55 for controlling three zones,possibly within a den or living room of the structure 60. Virtual keypad78 can have almost unlimited multi-gang switchbox to control multiplezones well beyond three. In the simple example of a half bath with onlytwo zones, then a two-gang switchbox for controlling individually onlytwo zones is sufficient, and the virtual icon 74 represents the keypad55 within only the half bath.

After LED illumination devices are grouped into zones, and the zonesassigned to corresponding portions of identified keypads, scenes andshows can be created. As shown in FIG. 13, GUI 80 presents a createscene/show icon 82. When a user clicks on icon 82, a window 84 of GUI 80appears. Within that window 84, one or more dimcurves can be created.Beginning with a first dimcurve, such as a full-brightness dimcurve 86,of a particular zone or scene is created. In the example of FIG. 12,zones 1 and 2 (and the combination thereof that form a scene) areassigned to the physical keypad corresponding to icon 74, and contentdata sets of color temperature as a function of brightness, beginningwith full brightness are mapped along a dimcurve 86 containing aplurality of scene illuminations (scene A, scene B, scene C, etc.).Thus, color temperature and brightness values at specific times of dayto form scene A is created solely as to zones 1 and 2 of the half-bathexample. The process is repeated to produce another scene B at anotherpoint along dimcurve 86. There may then be several scenes formed alongdimcurve 86 through the daytime, as well as nighttime, by simplypointing to a brightness/color temperature value at a particular time ofday on the screen 84 and the remote controller therefore forwards thecorresponding scene to the corresponding group of illumination devicesfor storage as scene A, followed by scene B, etc., within the storagemedium 56 of the entire group of selected plurality of illuminationdevices. For a full-brightness value, and as color temperatures assignedto scenes A, B, C, etc., increase to a peak and thereafter decrease, theincreasing scenes are placed along the full-brightness dimcurve 86 tothe peak, and thereafter subsequent scenes are placed in a decreasingportion of the dimcurve 86. Thus, the various scenes (scene A, scene B,scene C, etc.) of increasing color temperature at a full brightnessforms the first dimcurve to, for example, the apex of the dimcurve atnoontime to decreasing color temperatures for subsequent scenes from theapex down to the evening hours and possibly through nighttime along thetime axis shown in window 84. This process of mapping scenes along adimcurve for a particular group of illumination devices and repeatingthe process for creating other dimcurves for that group thereby formsthe entire mapping for a particular group of illumination devices 24within the structure 60. The process is then repeated to create multiplescenes along multiple dimcurves for the remaining groups of illuminationdevices 24 within the structure 60.

Color temperatures as a function of brightness and time of day aremapped along multiple dimcurves for each zone or group of zones (scenecomprising illumination devices) throughout the structure so that themapping is that of a table of color temperature and brightness valuesfor each scene among a plurality of scenes and for each dimcurve withina plurality of dimcurves assigned to each zone or scene arrangedthroughout the structure. Thus, the half-bath example having two zonesand a single scene of two zones would have multiple scenes withcorresponding color temperatures as a function of brightness mappedalong multiple dimcurves. Mapping would continue for other roomsthroughout the structure. As noted above, a scene represents not only aplurality of one or more zones of illumination devices, but alsorepresents the color temperature as a function of brightness at aparticular time of day mapped along a dimcurve of a series of scenesseparated in time to form a natural show, with each natural showcorresponding to a dimcurve and multiple dimcurves to representdifferent natural shows available to the two-zone, or single-sceneillumination devices half-bath example.

Once scenes and shows are created for all the plurality of LEDillumination devices among a structure, the mapped scenes along adimcurve, of which there can be multiple dimcurves, form multiple showsthat are assigned a number, or address. For example, the created scenesand shows attributable to the half bath used to control two zones can beassigned an address for each possible scene mapped along the variousdimcurves, and for each dimcurve or show. That number, or address, canthen be selected in GUI 90 shown in FIG. 14 by clicking on icon 92, andthereafter displaying the addressed scenes and show numbers, anddragging and dropping those addressed numbers to the virtual keypad 74,corresponding, for example, to the half-bath physical keypad 55. Usingthe half-bath scenario, the color temperatures as a function ofbrightness for each scene, and for the series of scenes along multipledimcurves attributable to the half-bath keypad, are then stored in theillumination devices addressable by the physical keypad 55 that controlszones 1 and 2. When a user depresses a button on the half-bath keypad55, for example, various color temperatures, brightness valuesattributable to either zone 1, or zone 2, or both (a single scene ofzone 1 and zone 2 illumination devices), can be invoked. The buttonssend corresponding addressed control signals to the illumination devicesto invoke a static scene or a dynamically and automatically changingseries of scenes of a show. Different natural shows represented bydifferent addressable dimcurves can also be controllably addressed bychoosing the appropriate addressable control signals sent from thekeypad 55 to the mapped table of different dimcurves within theillumination devices addressable by the keypad 55. The data set contentswithin illumination devices 24 that are controllable by the addresscontrol signals sent from the keypad 55 are the parameters needed forinvoking the particular brightness and/or color temperature for thosecorresponding group of illumination devices, either as a particularscene from among a plurality of different scenes or as a natural showfrom among a plurality of natural shows along respective plurality ofdimcurves.

Turning now to FIG. 15, buttons on an exemplary keypad 95 are shown.Although buttons can be arranged and configured in multiple differentways, the exemplary keypad 95 illustrates one configuration foradjusting brightness, color temperature, as well as enabling anddisabling a show of, for example, a two-zone plurality of illuminationdevices. Continuing the example, keypad 95 shown in FIG. 15 can comprisetwo portions, a first portion 94 (sub keypad A) and a second portion 96(sub keypad B). The first portion 94 is associated with a first gang ofa two-gang switchbox, whereas the second portion 96 is associated with asecond gang of a two-gang switchbox. The keypad 95 shown in the exampleof FIG. 15 can therefore be used in the half-bathroom scenario forcontrolling a zone of illumination devices associated with the vanity ofthe half bathroom separate from a zone of illumination devicesassociated with downlights within the half bathroom.

The exemplary keypad 95 of FIG. 15 includes a first of the plurality ofbuttons, denoted as reference numeral 100. A second of the plurality ofbuttons is shown as reference numeral 102, a third of the plurality ofbuttons is shown as reference numeral 103, and a fourth of the pluralityof buttons is shown as reference numeral 104. More specifically, a firstof the pair of first buttons (ON+) is coupled to turn on and increasebrightness of the plurality of illumination devices within only thefirst zone, and a second of the pair of first buttons (OFF−) is coupledto turn off and decrease brightness of the plurality of the illuminationdevices within only the first zone. A first of the pair of secondbuttons (ALL ON+) is coupled to turn on and increase brightness of theplurality of illumination devices within an illumination scene thatcomprises both the first zone and the second zone. A second of the pairof second buttons (ALL OFF−) is coupled to turn off and decreasebrightness of the plurality of the illumination devices within theillumination scene. A first of the pair of fourth buttons (CCTS+) iscoupled to turn on and increase color temperature of the plurality ofillumination devices within the illumination scene. A second of the pairof fourth buttons (CCTS−) is coupled to turn off and decrease colortemperature of a plurality of illumination devices within theillumination scene. Accordingly, the first portion 94 of keypad 95 isused to control a first zone, as well as the first and second zones in,for example, the half-bath scenario that comprises two zones and asingle illumination scene.

The first of the plurality of buttons, denoted as reference numeral 100,therefore increases, decreases, turns on, and turns off the brightnessof only the first zone, such as, for example, the lights above thehalf-bath vanity. Yet, buttons 102 turn on and off and increase anddecrease the illumination devices within both zone 1 and zone 2, andtherefore the brightness of the entire scene comprising the lights abovethe vanity as well as the downlights within the half bath and arelabeled as BRS. The fourth of the plurality of buttons, labeled 104,control the color temperature by increasing or decreasing the colortemperature within both zones, and therefore control the colortemperature of the entire scene, and are labeled as CCTS+ and CCTS−, forincreasing and decreasing the color temperature of that scene.

As noted above, in the half-bath scenario that can be controlled by atwo-gang switchbox, and specifically the keypad 95 having the firstportion 94 for controlling the first gang and the second portion 96 forcontrolling the second gang, the second gang is associated with thesecond zone of the half bath. The first zone can be above the vanity,whereas the second zone, or Z2, can be in the downlights separate fromthe vanity. Thus, Z1 can be associated with the zone that controlslights above the vanity, and Z2 can be associated with the zone thatcontrols the downlights elsewhere in the half bath. The second portion96 of keypad 95, associated with the second gang of the two-gangswitchbox, comprises a fifth of the plurality of buttons, denoted asreference numeral 105. A fifth of the plurality of buttons 105 iscoupled to adjust brightness of the plurality of illumination deviceswithin only the second zone, and not the first zone. A first button ofthe pair of fifth buttons 105 is coupled to turn on and increasebrightness of the plurality of illumination devices within only thesecond zone, as noted by BR+ for the second zone Z2. A second button ofthe pair of fifth buttons 105 is coupled to turn off and decreasebrightness of the plurality of illumination devices within only thesecond zone and is labeled as BR− of the second zone Z2.

The buttons on keypad 95 can be programmed in many ways, and thespecific program of the first through the fifth of the plurality ofbuttons shown in FIG. 15 is only one way. As noted above, theprogramming of buttons can be performed like the grouping ofillumination devices, keypads, and the creation and assignment of scenesand shows shown in FIGS. 11-14. Specifically, a GUI can exist on theremote controller 53 having brightness control, temperature control, andspecifically brightness and temperature control for various zones andscenes in one portion of the GUI, and dragging and dropping thosecontrol features into specific buttons of a selected keypad. Forexample, the brightness, as well as the ON/OFF features for controllingbrightness can exist as an object or icon upon the GUI to allow the userto drag the brightness control as well as the ON/OFF control of zone 1into the corresponding button within the first pair of buttons 100. Thesame can apply for assigning control of both zones that represent ascene, and specifically the brightness control of that scene (BRS+/−) aswell as turning on or off (ALL ON+/−) the entire scene using iconsassociated with both zones and the brightness increase and decreasecontrol icons of the pair of second buttons 102. The same can apply tothe fourth pair of buttons 104 as well as the fifth pair of buttons 105.Alternatively, the buttons can be assigned using a GUI on a displayscreen directly upon keypad 95. The programming of buttons to controlvarious illumination devices within one or more zones of a structure canbe achieved in various ways in firmware or using software such assoftware within an application program, using a GUI or not, and isgenerally well understood to those skilled in the art. In addition,assigning control to certain buttons to control illumination output ofcertain illumination devices can take on different functionality thanthe example described hereinabove, all of which fall within the spiritand scope of these disclosed embodiments. Moreover, depending on thenumber of zones, the number of gangs within a switchbox, and the overallfunctionality of a keypad, buttons can be programmed in numerousdifferent ways. FIG. 15 illustrates only one form of programmingspecific to a two-zone example. However, it is understood that thearrangement of buttons as well as the control afforded by depressing oneor more buttons can accommodate any LED illumination device lightingscenario provided the buttons can individually control the brightness ofzones, or the brightness of all zones within a scene, as well as thecolor temperature of that scene, with the ability to turn on, off,increase, and decrease brightness and color temperature among individualzones and scenes within a structure.

Also shown in the example of the two-gang switchbox in FIG. 15 is athird of the plurality of buttons, labeled 103. The third of theplurality of buttons can be a single button 103 coupled to enable anatural show, that natural show being one which automatically andperiodically changes color temperature as a function of brightness toform a different scene each time the color temperature and/or brightnesschanges. The automatically and periodically changing color temperatureof that natural show can occur at differing times of day. By depressingbutton 103, a show can be enabled or disabled and, specifically, ifenabled, the show would extend forward in time along, for example, afirst dimcurve labeled dimcurve 1 with increasing color temperaturetoward noontime and decreasing thereafter. In the simple half-bathroomexample, button 103 allows for periodic and dynamic changing of colortemperature as a function of brightness throughout the day along apre-set and previously mapped dimcurve to increase the color temperatureabove the vanity and separate downlights toward noontime and decreasethereafter. Button 103 controls the show for illumination devices withinZ1 and Z2.

Turning now to FIG. 16, a flow diagram is shown illustrating thegeneration of different dimcurves at different times of day throughoutthe daytime. The different dimcurves can be applied to the sameplurality of illumination devices to produce different natural shows ofchanging color temperatures as a function of brightness. The generationof those dimcurves occurs using the GUI shown in FIG. 13, for example,when creating various scenes, and aggregating those scenes along adimcurve to create a natural show. The creation of the differentdimcurves for the same plurality of illumination devices, and repeatingthe process set forth in the flow diagram of FIG. 16 can occur for otherplurality of illumination devices. The creation of multiple dimcurvesfor each of several different groups of illumination devices occursduring the mapping or provisioning of the illumination devices. Thatmapping of multiple dimcurves for each of multiple groups ofillumination devices forms the overall mapping functionality. Thosemapped dimcurves are stored as multiple tables of brightness and colortemperature values at various times of day for various groupings ofillumination devices within each of those illumination device storagemediums 56. When the real-time clock within the corresponding keypad 55sends a time-of-day value, the brightness and/or color temperature valuewill change to the next time-of-day addressed value for the next mappedscene if the show is enabled. If a show is not enabled, then any mappedvalue of a scene can be formed manually by depressing a button on thekeypad 55 and that scene will remain static and unchanging until anotherbutton is depressed on the keypad, or a timeout has occurred, or theshow is resumed.

The mapping and storage of brightness and color temperature charts ortables within the storage mediums begin by setting the time of day andtimer timeout within the real-time clocks of the remote controller 53 aswell as the various keypads 55 corresponding to respective groups ofillumination devices 1606. Once the timer timeout, that can be preset,times out after a set time of day, such as a fixed time after sunrise1608, brightness within a first group of illumination devices can be setto a maximum amount 1610. The maximum brightness can be selected fromthe manufacturer specification sheet, for example. If the fixed timeafter sunrise has not yet occurred based on the timer timeout from thetime-of-day value, then the program set forth in FIG. 16 waits for thatfixed time after sunrise. Beginning at the timer timeout value aftersunrise, and for a maximum brightness already set, the color temperatureis then set also at that maximum brightness amount and for that fixedtime after sunrise 1612.

Once the maximum brightness is set and color temperature is set for thefirst period after sunrise, the timer timeout is examined again for thenext timer timeout 1614. Once the next timer timeout, or time-of-daysignal is sent from the real-time clock of the keypad after the firsttimeout has occurred, brightness remains at the maximum value, but thecolor temperature is increased 1616. At each timed increment aftersunrise when the timer times out, an increase in color temperatureoccurs, and the recorded maximum brightness and stepped increase incolor temperature is recorded to form the first dimcurve, or dimcurve 1.

A check is made to determine if the color temperature has reached amaximum amount, and if it has not, as shown by decision block 1620, thenthe timer proceeds to the next timeout, or time of day, and the colortemperature continues to increase and the corresponding maximumbrightness value and increasing color temperatures along the firstdimcurve are recorded, or mapped in a table of first dimcurve values ofmaximum brightness and increasing color temperatures.

If the maximum color temperature has been reached as indicated bydecision block 1620, then the next timer timeout 1622 must be one thatproduces a decrease in color temperature 1624, with a correspondingrecordation of a decrease in color temperature as a function of maximumbrightness along the first dimcurve 1626. Accordingly, the firstdimcurve (dimcurve 1) indicates at fixed time intervals and increasingcolor temperature for the maximum brightness until a maximum colortemperature is reached and thereafter a periodic decrease in colortemperature for that maximum brightness. The increasing and thereafterdecreasing color temperature for maximum brightness is mapped within atable that is stored in the storage medium of each of the group ofillumination devices, that group being the first group of illuminationdevices. If a fixed time before sunrise has not occurred 1628, then theprocess of looking for that timer timeout continues until such time assunset occurs 1630.

The time of day and timer timeout is therefore reset 1630 to examineagain whether a fixed time after sunset 1632 has occurred. If a fixedtime after sunrise has occurred, then the brightness is reduced from theset maximum brightness value, as shown by block 1634. The process istherefore repeated beginning at the fixed time after sunrise ofincreasing color temperature until a maximum color temperature isreached, and thereafter decreasing the color temperature to a fixed timebefore sunset, albeit for a reduced brightness, to form a seconddimcurve (dimcurve 2). Accordingly, the mapped table of brightnessvalues and color temperatures between sunrise and sunset are stored inthe storage medium of the first group of illumination devices containinga first mapped table of a first dimcurve, followed by a second dimcurve.The only difference between the first and second dimcurve, however, isthe reduction in brightness value, whereby the second dimcurve has alower brightness value than the first dimcurve.

At regular periodic timed intervals along each of the first, second,third, etc., dimcurves associated with the first group of illuminationdevices are color temperatures as a function of brightness. Those colortemperatures increase from sunrise to approximately noontime, andthereafter decrease to sunset. If charted on a graph, the dimcurveswould be those that appear on GUI 80 shown in FIG. 13, and in moredetail shown in FIG. 6. There can be numerous dimcurves that are mappedand stored as numerous tables within the first group of illuminationdevices.

The flow diagram set forth in the software instructions of FIG. 16 isrepeated not only to form multiple dimcurves within the same first groupof illumination devices, but also is repeated for a second group ofillumination devices, followed by a third group of illumination devices,and so forth, until all groups of illumination devices receive mappeddimcurves throughout the structure. Thus, repetition of the programinstructions set forth in FIG. 16 causes mapping of various dimcurves ina second group of illumination devices, possibly the same or differentmappings with different dimcurves in the second group than the firstgroup, and so forth. Each group of a plurality of illumination devicescan be different from one another within a structure, with preferablyunique dimcurves associated with corresponding groups of illuminationdevices to control the natural show along one dimcurve of one group ofillumination devices different from that of the natural show along, forexample, another dimcurve within another group of illumination devices.In this fashion, for example, the natural show selected for a bedroomcan be different from the natural show selected within a kitchen. Notonly can the dimcurves (i.e., the color temperature as a function ofbrightness) be different in the bedroom versus the kitchen, but thetimes in which the timer timeout occurs to set the different scenes canalso change. Thus, the color temperature as a function of brightness, aswell as the timer timeout intervals can be different from one group ofillumination devices to that of another, with corresponding mappings oftables for color temperature as a function of brightness and times ofday can be different from one room to another. FIG. 16 thereforeillustrates the general process by which software can be used toinstruct the formation of dimcurves and different corresponding naturalshows for different groups of illumination devices within a structure.The mappings or tables stored in the storage mediums of one group ofillumination devices can be altogether different from the storedmappings within another group of illumination devices to control thenatural show differently in one room from that of another since thedimcurves and scene-change time intervals of each room can be different.

Turning now to FIG. 17, a flow diagram is shown that illustrates theprogramming of a pre-set scene brightness value, increasing brightnessof zones within the scene to the pre-set scene of brightness value, anddecreasing brightness of illumination devices within the scene, within azone of a scene, or increasing/decreasing color temperature ofillumination devices within that scene. FIG. 17 illustrates the initialassignment of keypad buttons 100. The initial assignment of buttons canbe like the example described in FIG. 15 of keypad 95. Presetting ascene begins by adjusting the brightness and color temperatures of ascene applicable to one or more zones of illumination devices by firstdepressing the ON+ or OFF− button of the first plurality of buttons 100,as shown by block 112. Specifically, a user, using the example of FIG.15, would depress and hold either the ON+ or the OFF− button within thefirst portion of keypad 95. Depending upon the amount of time that thebutton is depressed and held, the brightness of the first zone, Z1, willbe adjusted upward or downward. Depressing the appropriate buttonbeginning at block 112 assumes that the show button 103 is notdepressed, and therefore the natural show is not enabled. Presetting ascene is therefore performed with the show being off. Next, in block114, the second portion of keypad 95 has the fifth of the plurality ofbuttons 105 and, when the first of the pair of buttons 105 is depressedand held (0N+), the brightness of zone 2, Z2, increases. If, on theother hand, the second of the pair of buttons 105 is depressed and held(OFF−), the brightness of zone 2, Z2, is decreased. Next, in block 116,the color temperatures (CCT+/−) can be increased or decreased for a zoneby depressing and holding the appropriate button of the fourth of theplurality of buttons 104. If CCT+ is depressed, then the colortemperature of the scene will be increased, whereas if CCT− isdepressed, then the color temperature of the scene will be decreased.

Once the brightness value is increased or decreased to the appropriatelevel either in the first zone or the second zone, and the colortemperature of both zones which form the scene is adjusted to theappropriate level as noted in blocks 112, 114, and 116, then bothbuttons of the second of the plurality of buttons 102 are depressedsimultaneously in block 118. Depressing both buttons in the second ofthe plurality of buttons 102, and specifically the ALL ON+ and ALL OFF−buttons, then the brightness and color temperatures of each zone and theentire scene can be pre-set at block 120. Simultaneous depression mustoccur for at least three seconds to pre-set the scene to whatever levelsare established by blocks 112-116.

The process set forth in blocks 112-120 can be repeated for other zonesand scenes throughout the structure to pre-set the brightness and/orcolor temperatures for respective zones and scenes throughout the house.However, presetting a scene to a particular brightness and colortemperature assumes that the show is not enabled, and therefore button103 has not been depressed. A light next to button 103 indicating a showis on, is off. Once the show is disabled for a group of illuminationdevices controlled by a particular keypad, the illumination devices canbe pre-set by depressing the appropriate buttons of the keypadcontrolling those illumination devices and therefore presetting thebrightness and/or color temperature of the illumination devices to aparticular level, and the process is repeated for other groups ofillumination devices throughout the structure.

With a scene illumination output pre-set, whether simply one group ofillumination devices or multiple groups of illumination devicesthroughout the structure, the show must remain disabled as indicated byblock 122, and any subsequent depression of the ALL ON+ button willincrease the brightness of the scene to the scene pre-set value, asshown by blocks 124 and 126. The scene pre-set value can include thebrightness and/or color temperatures of the scene established by blocks112-116.

At any time when the show is disabled 122, the ALL OFF− button 102 canbe depressed as shown by block 128, and the corresponding brightness ofthe scene will be decreased 130. Moreover, any depression and holding ofthe color temperature button, either CCT+ or CCT− in block 132 willincrease or decrease the color temperature of the scene 134. The zonescan also be individually controlled, and if the show is disabled 122,either zone 1 or zone 2 can be increased or decreased in brightness bydepressing and holding the appropriate button within the first pluralityof buttons 100 or the fifth plurality of buttons 105, shown by block 136to increase or decrease the brightness of the corresponding zone 138.

The blocks shown in FIG. 17 describing depression of a button denote thedepression and holding of that button and, based on the length of timethe button is held, the brightness or color temperature will increase ordecrease more or less, respectively. If, however, a button is depressedtwice in succession, with a release of the button during the interim, abrightness of a zone, or both zones of illumination devices will beturned on or off depending on which button is depressed. The button mustbe depressed twice within less than a three second window with acomplete release in the interim. For example, if the OFF− button of thefifth plurality of buttons 105 is depressed twice 140, then the zone 2illumination devices will be turned off. Likewise, if the OFF− button onthe first portion pertaining to the first plurality of buttons 100 isdepressed twice, then the illumination devices in zone 1 will be turnedoff. If, however, the ALL OFF− is depressed twice 142, then theillumination devices of both zones 1 and zone 2 will be turned off. Theselective turning off of zone 1, or zone 2, or both zones, depending onwhich button is depressed twice within approximately three seconds,culminates in the block shown as block number 144.

Turning now to FIG. 18, a flow diagram is provided showing theinitiation of a natural show among either a zone or a group of zonesthat form a scene. FIG. 18 also illustrates the momentary, persistent,or permanent modification of a natural show. Beginning with enabling thenatural show 150 by depressing the button 103 shown in FIG. 15, anindicator light is illuminated preferably next to that button, or thebutton itself. The indicator light indicates the show is enabledallowing either the activation of the show or an override of the show.Activation of the show depends upon the time of day and, depending onwhich button is depressed, either the show is activated for one or morezones. For example, if the ALL ON+ button is depressed twice 152, thescene that comprises two zones is activated and the brightness and colortemperature for that scene, depending upon the time of day the button isdepressed twice, is initiated. The show then starts at that currentscene based on the time of day 154 at which the button is depressed.

Alternatively, the brightness and color temperature values can be setfor only one zone of multiple zones of illumination devices within ascene by depressing the ON+ button twice 156. The show will then startto be automatically defined in fixed scene for that show depending uponthe time of day and, specifically for either the first zone or thesecond zone depending upon which ON+ button 100 or 105 is depressed.That show will start for the current scene and specifically for theparticular zone as shown by block 158.

It may be desirable to momentarily, persistently, or permanently modifyor override a show. For example, if the ALL ON+ button 102 is depressedand held, but not depressed twice, as shown in block 160 either thebrightness of the scene for that time of day, the color temperature forthat time of day, or both, are increased to the brightness and colortemperature values set for that scene at that particular time of day,and up to those values depending on how long the ALL ON+ button isdepressed, as shown by blocks 162 and 164. Since the ALL ON+ button wasnot depressed twice, but is only depressed and held, the amount in whichthat button is held will determine the amount by which the brightness ofthe scene at that time of day in which the button was depressed will beincreased, the same can be said for the color temperature depending uponthe amount of time in which the CCTS+ button 104 is depressed.Conversely, the color temperature can be decreased depending upon theamount of time in which CCTS− button is held thereby decreasing colortemperature proportional to that amount of time. The flow 160, 162, and164 illustrates the override of the show by not activating the show butincreasing or possibly decreasing the brightness and color temperaturefor that particular scene at that particular time within the show. Forexample, a user may wish to reduce the brightness in the kitchen duringmidday by depressing the ALL OFF− to decrease the brightness within thekitchen at 11:00 a.m. and therefore change the scene that would normallyappear at 11:00 a.m. Additionally, the user may wish to decrease thecolor temperature by depressing the CCTS− button at 11:00 a.m. to moreof an incandescent, warm white than the normally present natural whitecolor temperature. Conversely, the brightness of the kitchen scene canalso be increased as well as the color temperature by simply depressingthe ALL ON+ by depressing and holding the ALL ON+ for a particularamount of time and therefore increasing the brightness at, for example,7:00 a.m. from a lower dimcurve value to a higher dimcurve value andtherefore also increasing the color temperature from, for example, 2300K to 3000 K. Thus, the block 160 can pertain to depressing the ALL ON+or the ALL OFF− button to increase, or decrease, brightness for thecurrent scene at that time of day and to override the show, and tomaintain that override until, for example, the ALL ON button 102 isdepressed twice 166 to then resume the show 168. The flow, beginning atblock 160 and ending at block 168, indicates a momentary override of thenatural show, if the natural show was previously enabled. When the allON+/− is depressed and held, the brightness of the first zone or bothzones (both zones within the scene) ramp up or down in brightness. Ifthe ALL ON+ is depressed and held, the ramp up will be that which occursuntil the natural show brightness is reached for that particular time ofday. Subsequently, the ALL ON buttons will operate as if the naturalshow is OFF to override the show. It is not until the ALL ON+ button isthereafter depressed twice will the show resume. In the interim,however, the momentary override occurs, and that override can allowmanual control of both in brightness and/or color temperature up to anatural show brightness and color temperature for that time of day, ordown to zero.

The control of multiple zones of a scene, and the momentary override ofa show set forth in flow 160-168 is replicated in blocks 170-178.Specifically, the only difference between blocks 160-168 and blocks170-178 is the control of one zone, rather than the control of possiblymultiple zones. The blocks 170-178 pertain to the control of a singlezone, whether that control is of zone one, or zone two. Contrary to theALL ON+/− button, there also can exist an ON+/− button and, depending onwhether the button being depressed and held is the button on the firstportion or the second portion, either the first zone or the second zonecan undergo a momentary override. If the ON+ button is depressed andheld, the amount of time in which that button is held in block 170 willdictate the amount of increase of brightness for that zone, whether thefirst zone or the second zone, is increased for the current scene withinthe show. That amount of increase will extend upward to the brightnessof the show at that time of day in which the button was depressed andheld. Conversely, the ON− button can be depressed and held to decreasethe brightness for the current scene within the show and to maintainthat override and to momentary maintain that override until the buttonis again depressed twice 176. Color temperature for a particular zonedepending upon which button was depressed, either the button of thefirst zone or the button of the second zone, to increase or decreasecolor temperature 174 again, until the ON+ button is depressed twice andthe show resumes, at blocks 176 and 178. Like the scene momentaryoverride in flow 160-168, the zone override within a particular scene ata particular time of day at blocks 170-178 exists until the show isresumed, and the amount of override or change in either brightnessand/or color temperature depends upon the amount of time in which theON+/− or CCT+/− buttons are depressed. Until the ALL ON+ or the ON+button is depressed twice, the brightness increase/decrease and colortemperature increase/decrease buttons will operate as if the naturalshow was not on. That is, until the ALL ON+ or the ON+ buttons aredepressed twice. The override of the current scene of multiple zones, orsimply a single zone occurs either momentarily until the ALL ON+ or ON+buttons are depressed twice. However, if the ALL ON+ or ON+ buttons arenot depressed within a timeout period, the change in the current scenewill automatically revert to the show once that timeout has expired.Thus, FIG. 18 shows in blocks 166, 168, 176, and 178 the momentarychange in current scene, blocks 180 and 182 show the change in currentscene that will persistently remain until a timeout has expired. Thus,if the ALL ON+ or ON+ buttons have not been depressed twice within thetimeout, the change in current scene will nonetheless revert to the showonce that timeout has expired. Accordingly, FIG. 18 illustrates themomentary or the persistent change in current scene for a particulartime of day, and possibly subsequent scenes within a show until atimeout has expired, or the show is resumed manually by depressing theALL ON+ or ON+ buttons twice.

FIG. 18 also illustrates, in addition to momentary or persistent changein current scene, a permanent change to the current scene, as well aspossibly other scenes subsequent to that current scene both to multiplezones, or on a zone-by-zone basis. The permanent change begins bydepressing the show for a pre-determined amount of time, preferably morethan three seconds. Depending on whether the ALL ON+ or the ON+ buttonwas previously depressed and held, and thus whether a scene of multiplezones or a zone within a scene has the brightness and/or colortemperature values increased or decreased as shown by blocks 162 and164, pertaining to a scene, and blocks 172 and 174, applicable to azone, the corresponding override that is made permanent occurs either atblock 186 or block 188.

While the timeout period for the persistent change can be severalminutes to several hours, preferably, the pre-determined time in whichthe show button 103 is depressed is preferably less than 10 seconds butmore than three seconds. By depressing the show button 103 less than 10seconds, whatever the brightness in color temperature value is for thescene or the particular zone within the scene of illumination devices isfixed into the memory of the corresponding illumination devicesdepending on when the ALL ON+ or ON+ buttons are depressed and held, andthe show button is thereafter depressed for a pre-determined time. Allthe current scenes in that interim timeframe are permanently changed.Alternatively, only the scene nearest the time of day in which the showbutton 103 is depressed and held is changed. That scene being thecurrent scene within a show. Moreover, that current scene within a showis changed to the new brightness value and/or color temperature valueestablished by the amount of time in which the ALL ON, CCT+/− buttonswere depressed.

The current scene change is permanently recorded into the storage medium56 as the corresponding illumination devices, as shown by blocks 190 and192. The current scene is therefore permanently changed such thatwhenever the show is thereafter activated, the scene at that particulartime of day that has undergone a permanent change will cause the showforever thereafter at that time of day to display the permanentlychanged brightness in color temperature values for that time of day. Forexample, if the show button 103 is depressed a pre-determined amount oftime at 11:00 a.m., whatever the brightness and color temperature valuesthat have been changed prior to that time and during that time will berecorded. The next day, at 11:00 a.m., the previous show will now bechanged so that at 11:00 a.m., the new scene is displayed. Rather thanthe old scene, that new scene takes on the brightness and colortemperature values established in one or more zones of illuminationdevices at blocks 160-164 and 170-174. That new scene will now play atthat time of day, every day thereafter, until possibly permanentlychanged again. Other scenes before and after will be adjusted to providea smooth change in color temperature and brightness over the course ofthe day. For instance, if at 8:00 p.m., the color temperature is reducedfrom 2500 to 2200 K, the color temperatures of all scenes in the showfrom before sunset to the middle of the night will be reducedaccordingly. The color temperatures during the morning, noontime, andthe middle of the night may remain unchanged. According to oneembodiment, FIGS. 19 and 20 further illustrate the smoothingfunctionality that occurs whenever a permanent change is made to a scenewithin a show. FIG. 19 is a continuation of blocks 190 and 192 in FIG.18.

Turning now to FIG. 19, a flow diagram of a change to brightness and/orcolor temperature among preceding N number of scenes and subsequent Nnumber of scenes is illustrated to provide a smoothing of anymodification to the brightness and/or color temperature of a currentscene of illumination devices. The change in the current scene can berather substantial and if the preceding and subsequent sceneillumination outputs remain, then a visually perceptible and abruptdisplay would occur that may be undesirable to a viewer. To provide asmoothing of previous N scenes and subsequent N scenes to the changedcurrent scene, the previous and subsequent scenes must be changed sothere is no abrupt visual and disjointed change in color temperature orbrightness when the updated and current scene is permanently placed intothe natural show. In other words, if a permanent change to brightnessoccurs at 11:00 a.m., and that current scene brightness is substantiallyless than the dimcurve for the existing natural show at 11:00 a.m., thenpossibly N number (preferably fewer than 3) of brightness values forscenes preceding the current scene and N number of brightness valuescenes for the same plurality of illumination devices are changed afterthe 11 a.m. current scene. The previous N number of scenes having theirbrightness and color temperature changed are shown in block 200, and thesubsequently changed N scenes of brightness and color temperature forthe same illumination devices are shown in block 202.

Determining the number N preceding and subsequent to the currentlychanged scene is pre-determined and is preferably three or less.Therefore, if the changed, current scene is at 11:00 a.m., if there arescenes at 7:00 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. that precede the current scene, thosetwo scenes are also changed so that the resulting dimcurve leading up tothe current scene change is not disjointed, as shown in FIG. 20, andspecifically the graph 204. Subsequently, the N number of scenes after11:00 a.m. may comprise two or more scenes as shown. However, only twosubsequent scenes are changed at noon and 2:00 p.m., as shown by graph206. While N can comprise two, the graphs 204 and 206 illustratepossibly more than two scenes depending upon how far apart in time eachscene is mapped along a dimcurve. For example, if a scene is mappedevery 15 minutes, then N can comprise much more than 3, and can be asmuch as 20. Regardless of the value of N, it is important to note thatnot all scenes within a 24-hour period must be changed to providesmoothing. Instead, if the permanently changed scene is at 11:00 a.m.,only the scenes after sunrise and leading up to 11:00 a.m., andsubsequently after 11:00 a.m. to mid-afternoon need be changed. Thescenes after mid-afternoon, and before sunrise need not be changed sincesufficient smoothing can occur in a limited number of changed scenesbefore and after the current changed scene. Thus, the color temperatureis a function of brightness before sunrise and after the middle of theafternoon will remain unchanged in the above example.

As noted in FIGS. 6-8, as well as FIG. 13, when creating a plurality ofscenes for the same group of illumination devices to form a firstdimcurve, that process is repeated using, for example, the GUI andobject-oriented programming, to form multiple natural shows andcorresponding dimcurves for that same group of illumination devices.Thus, for example, there can be multiple natural shows that are mappedinto a table and stored within each of the group of illuminationdevices. The process is repeated when mapping multiple natural shows andcorresponding dimcurves into other groups of illumination devices. Thus,the bedroom can have altogether different dimcurves and natural showsmapped in the illumination devices of the bedroom than that of thekitchen. The dimcurves of color temperature as a function of brightnessdiffers for each dimcurve regardless of the illumination devices thatcontain the mapped table of dimcurves. Thus, it is necessary thatmultiple dimcurves, each having a plurality of scenes are mapped intothe same group of illumination devices to control the color temperaturedifferently based on changes in brightness. The amount of change candepend on the color temperature at full brightness.

When a scene is permanently changed, as shown by blocks 190 and 192 inFIG. 18, determination of previous and subsequent N scenes and thecorresponding color temperature as a function of brightness for thoseprevious and subsequent N scenes is determined depending upon whetherthe currently changed scene is within a pre-defined distance of a pointon another dimcurve. For example, if the permanent change of the currentscene is one in which brightness has been decreased, the correspondingcolor temperature for that current scene will no longer be on, forexample, a first dimcurve 208. Instead, the current scene change causedby a reduction in brightness will result in a color temperature (CCT)that is less than the color temperature along dimcurve 208. If, forexample, the changed-to, or new color temperature for the updated, andchanged current scene is within a pre-defined distance of a point on asecond dimcurve 210, shown in dashed line, then the scenes preceding thecurrent scene and subsequent to the current scene are recalled orfetched from the second dimcurve 210 stored in the storage medium 56 ofthe group of illumination devices being controlled.

Only a portion of the second dimcurve 210 is fetched from each of thegroup of illumination devices being controlled, and that second portioncomprises N number of scenes preceding the changed scene in N number ofscenes succeeding the changed scene to provide a smooth andnon-disjointed second natural show having scenes on a second dimcurveimmediately preceding and succeeding the current scene, yet maintainingall of the scenes along the first dimcurve 208 before the preceding Nscenes and after the succeeding N scenes.

According to one embodiment, the pre-defined distance of the point onthe second dimcurve, shown as 212, is preferably less than 5% of thecolor temperature of the scene on the second dimcurve at the particulartime of day for that current scene. For example, if the time of day is11:00 a.m., and the current scene change changes from the first dimcurve208 having a higher color temperature as a function of brightness todimcurve 210 having lower color temperature as a function of brightness,the new current scene may not have a color temperature precisely on thesecond dimcurve. Instead, the current scene color temperature as afunction of brightness can be within a pre-defined distance 212 of thesecond dimcurve 210. If that pre-defined distance is less than 5% of thecolor temperature of the scene on the second dimcurve at 11:00 a.m.,then the current scene is placed on the second dimcurve nonetheless, aswell as all preceding N scenes and succeeding N scenes. For example, ifthe color temperature along the second dimcurve at 11:00 a.m. for thecurrent scene of the first dimcurve is 4000 K, whereas the seconddimcurve at 11:00 a.m. the color temperature is 3800 K, if the currentscene change decreases brightness and/or color temperature to that of acolor temperature within 5% of the color temperature for that scene at11:00 a.m., or 5% of 3800 K=190 K, then the current scene will be placedon the second dimcurve as well as the preceding and succeeding N scenes.Accordingly, the pre-defined distance is less than 5%, or an absolutevalue is less than 190 K, and more preferably less than 2%, orapproximately 70 K. As shown in FIG. 20, the value for the pre-defineddistance 212 is therefore 5% of the color temperature along the seconddimcurve at the particular time of day for that current scene beingpermanently changed. Since the first and second dimcurves are alreadymapped into tables placed in corresponding illumination devices anypermanent change to a particular scene simply causes a selectivefetching of the current and previous as well as subsequent scenes alonga second dimcurve if a change is made so that it is sufficient enough tobe near the second dimcurve a pre-defined color temperature distance.The pre-defined distance can also be measured in terms of brightness. Ifthe current scene change involves a change in brightness that isrelatively close to a second dimcurve brightness, then the current scenewill be placed on a second dimcurve along with the preceding andsucceeding N scenes. That pre-defined brightness can also be 5% or less.

Even though different groups of illumination devices within a structurehave different dimcurves and different natural shows, a global overrideof all or multiple groups of illumination devices can occur through useof a singular, global keypad, such as keypad 57 shown in FIG. 10.Preferably, global keypad 57 comprises a singular keypad that controlsthe entire structure, and specifically multiple groups of illuminationdevices arranged throughout that structure. Also, preferably, the globalkeypad is arranged possibly near the entry door, or possibly near themaster bedroom.

The global keypad comprises at least one of the plurality of buttons,and that button preferably comprises an away button. The away button isused to activate a sensor to detect movement within the structure and,in response to that movement, to turn on and off an automatic periodicsuccession the select ones of multiple groups of illumination devicesthroughout the structure. The turning on and turning off an automatic,periodic succession is referred to herein as a panic show. The panicshow will therefore override the various natural shows that can occur indifferent groups of illumination devices whenever, for example, a sensordetects an intruder within the structure, or within a perimeter of thestructure.

The button on the global keypad 57 therefore can activate an away modefor detecting movement or, alternatively, when not activated, the buttoncan enable a natural show. Therefore, depending on the state of thatbutton on the global keypad, a natural show of automatically andperiodically changing color temperature as a function of brightness atdifferent times of day along a selected dimcurve occurs prior toenabling the panic show when an intruder is detected. Thus, in the awaymode, the natural show can continue and, when an intruder is detected,the natural show automatically changes to the panic show. Activation ofthe away mode to enable the natural show prior to sensing an intrudercan occur through a single depression on a button and a light on theglobal keypad will indicate the away mode is enabled. Alternatively, thebutton can enable a static scene from select ones of the multiple groupsof illumination devices prior to enabling the panic show when anintruder is detected. Thus, prior to detecting an intruder, the buttoncan be illuminated to indicate an away mode, and to maintain thebrightness in color temperature the same for the select ones of themultiple groups of illumination devices prior to sensing the intruderand, once an intruder is detected, the panic show is enabled. Accordingto an alternative embodiment, the panic show can comprise turning on andoff an automatic, time succession select ones of multiple groups ofillumination devices throughout, as well as outside, the structure, orsimply initiating a change in color of the select ones of the multiplegroups of illumination devices.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art having the benefit ofthis disclosure that this invention is believed to provide an improvedillumination system and method that not only allows mapping of dimcurvesfor each of multiple groups of illumination devices into thecorresponding illumination devices, but also using those mappeddimcurves to allow modification of any and all natural shows throughouta structure when an intruder is detected. A remote controller with agraphical user interface provides the ease by which mapping of dimcurvetables takes place, and multiple keypads assigned to groups ofillumination devices allows easy momentary and persistent changes, aswell as permanent changes, to the various scenes which form a naturalshow along the dimcurve. Further modifications and alternativeembodiments of various aspects of the invention will be apparent tothose skilled in the art in view of this description. It is intended,therefore, that the following claims be interpreted to embrace all suchmodifications and changes.

1. A light-emitting diode (LED) lamp, comprising: LED driver circuitryoperatively coupled to a plurality of LED strings, the driver circuitryto: provide a respective drive current to each of the plurality of LEDstrings to provide a defined output brightness and output colortemperature; memory circuitry to store a plurality of dimcurves, each ofthe plurality of dimcurves including a sequence that includes aplurality of scenes, each of the plurality of scenes includingrespective data representative of an output brightness of the LED lampand an output color temperature of the LED lamp as a function oftime-of-day and day-of-year; clocking circuitry to generate a clocksignal; and control circuitry conductively coupled to the LED drivercircuitry and communicatively coupled to the memory circuitry and theclocking circuitry, the control circuitry to: autonomously change theoutput brightness and the output color temperature of the plurality ofLED strings to autonomously follow a first dimcurve in temporalsynchronization with at least one other LED lamp based on a time-of-daydetermined using the clock signal generated by the clocking circuitry,the first dimcurve included in the plurality of dimcurves stored in thememory circuitry; and responsive to receipt of a request to transitionthe output brightness and the output color temperature from the firstdimcurve to a second dimcurve included in the plurality of dimcurves:determine a number of scenes over which the transition from the firstdimcurve to the second dimcurve is to occur, wherein the number ofscenes is a function of the difference in at least one of the outputbrightness and the output color temperature between the first dimcurveand the second dimcurve; temporally synchronize the time-of-day with theat least one other LED lamp; and cause the LED driver circuitry toprovide drive current to the plurality of LED strings to transition theLED lamp from the output brightness and the output color temperaturecorresponding to the first dimcurve to the output brightness and theoutput color temperature corresponding to the second dimcurve over thedetermined number of scenes.
 2. The LED lamp of claim 1 wherein theclocking circuitry comprises phase-locked loop (PLL) circuitryoperatively couplable to an alternating current (AC) feed to the LEDlamp.
 3. The LED lamp of claim 1, further comprising: wirelesscommunications interface circuitry communicatively coupled to thecontrol circuitry, the wireless communications interface circuitry to:receive data representative of one or more new dimcurves; and whereinthe control circuitry to further: cause a storage of the received datarepresentative of the one or more new dimcurves in the memory circuitry.4. The LED lamp of claim 3, the wireless communications interfacecircuitry to further: wirelessly receive the request to transition theoutput brightness and the output color temperature from the firstdimcurve to a second dimcurve included in the plurality of dimcurvesfrom at least one of: a remote controller or a keypad.
 5. The LED lampof claim 3, the wireless communications interface circuitry to further:wirelessly receive at least one of: data representative of a time-of-dayand data representative of a day-of-year from at least one of: a remotecontroller or a keypad.
 6. The LED lamp of claim 5, the controlcircuitry to further: responsive to receipt of data representative ofthe time-of-day by the wireless communications interface circuitry:synchronize the clock signal with the received data representative ofthe time-of-day.
 7. A method of operating a light-emitting diode (LED)lamp, the method comprising: determining, by LED lamp control circuitry,a time-of-day using a clock signal generated by clocking circuitryoperatively coupled to the LED lamp control circuitry; autonomouslychanging, by LED lamp control circuitry, respective drive currentsprovided by LED driver circuitry to each of a plurality of LED stringsto cause the output brightness and the output color temperature of theLED lamp to autonomously follow a first dimcurve in temporalsynchronization with at least one other LED lamp, the temporalsynchronization based on the determined time-of-day and a first dimcurveincluded in a plurality of dimcurves stored in memory circuitrycommunicatively coupled. to the LED lamp control circuitry; andresponsive to receipt of a request to transition the output brightnessand the output color temperature from the first dimcurve to a seconddimcurve included in the plurality of dimcurves: determining, by the LEDlamp control circuitry, a number of scenes over which the transitionfrom the first dimcurve to the second dimcurve is to occur, wherein thenumber of scenes is a function of the difference in at least one of theoutput brightness and the output color temperature between the firstdimcurve and the second dimcurve; temporally synchronizing thetime-of-day with the at least one other LED lamp; and causing the LEDdriver circuitry to provide respective drive currents to each of theplurality of LED strings to transition the LED lamp from the outputbrightness and the output color temperature corresponding to the firstdimcurve to the output brightness and the output color temperaturecorresponding to the second dimcurve over the determined number ofscenes.
 8. The method of claim 7 wherein determining the time-of-dayusing the clock signal generated by the clocking circuitry furthercomprises: determining the time-of-day using a clock signal generated byphase-locked loop (PLL) circuitry operatively countable to analternating current (AC) feed to the LED lamp apparatus.
 9. The methodof claim 7, further comprising: receiving data representative of one ormore new dimcurves via wireless communications interface circuitrycommunicatively coupled to the LED lamp control circuitry.
 10. Themethod of claim 9, further comprising: causing, by the LED lamp controlcircuitry, storage of the received data representative of the one ormore new dimcurves in the memory circuitry.
 11. The method of claim 9,further comprising: wirelessly receiving, via the wirelesscommunications interface circuitry, the request to transition the outputbrightness and the output color temperature from the first dimcurve to asecond dimcurve included in the plurality of dimcurves from at least oneof: a remote controller or a keypad.
 12. The method of claim 9, furthercomprising: wirelessly receiving, via the wireless communicationsinterface circuitry, at least one of: data representative of atime-of-day and data representative of a day-of-year from at least oneof: a remote controller or a keypad.
 13. The method of claim 12, furthercomprising: Synchronizing, by the LED lamp control circuitry, the clocksignal with the received data representative of the time-of-day; andresponsive to receipt of data representative of the time-of-day by thewireless communications interface circuitry.
 14. A non-transitory,machine-readable, storage device that includes machine-readableinstructions that, when executed by light-emitting diode (LED) lampcontrol circuitry operably coupled to an LED lamp, cause the LED lampcontrol circuitry to: determine a time-of-day using a clock signalgenerated by clocking circuitry operatively coupled to the LED lampcontrol circuitry; autonomously change respective drive currentsprovided by LED driver circuitry to each of a plurality of LED stringsto cause the output brightness and the output color temperature of theLED lamp to autonomously follow a first dimcurve in temporalsynchronization with at least one other LED lamp, the temporalsynchronization based on the determined time-of-day and the firstdimcurve included in a plurality of dimcurves stored in memory circuitrycommunicatively coupled to the LED lamp control circuitry; andresponsive to receipt of a request to transition the output brightnessand the output color temperature from the first dimcurve to a seconddimcurve included in the plurality of dimcurves: determine a number ofscenes over which the transition from the first dimcurve to the seconddimcurve is to occur, wherein the number of scenes is a function of thedifference in at least one of the output brightness and the output colortemperature between the first dimcurve and the second dimcurve;temporally synchronize the time-of-day with the at least one other LEDlamp; and cause the LED driver circuitry to provide respective drivecurrents to each of the plurality of LED strings to transition the LEDlamp from the output brightness and the output color temperaturecorresponding to the first dimcurve to the output brightness and theoutput color temperature corresponding to the second dimcurve over thedetermined number of scenes.
 15. The non-transitory, machine-readable,storage device of claim 14 wherein the machine-readable instructionsthat cause the LED lamp control circuitry to determine the time-of-dayusing the clock signal generated by the clocking circuitry further causethe LED lamp control circuitry to: determine the time-of-day using aclock signal generated by phase-locked loop (PLL) circuitry operativelycouplable to an alternating current (AC) feed to the LED lamp.
 16. Thenon-transitory, machine-readable, storage device of claim 14 wherein themachine-readable instructions further cause the LED lamp controlcircuitry to: receive data representative of one or more new dimcurvesvia wireless communications interface circuitry communicatively coupledto the LED lamp control circuitry.
 17. The non-transitory,machine-readable, storage device of claim 16 wherein themachine-readable instructions further cause the LED lamp controlcircuitry to: cause a storage of the received data representative of theone or more new dimcurves in the memory circuitry.
 18. Thenon-transitory, machine-readable, storage device of claim 16 wherein themachine-readable instructions further cause the LED lamp controlcircuitry to: receive, via the wireless communications interfacecircuitry, the request to transition the output brightness and theoutput color temperature from the first dimcurve to a second dimcurveincluded in the plurality of dimcurves from at least one of: a remotecontroller or a keypad.
 19. The non-transitory, machine-readable,storage device of claim 16 wherein the machine-readable instructionsfurther cause the LED lamp control circuitry to: receive, via thewireless communications interface circuitry, at least one of: datarepresentative of a time-of-day and data representative of a day-of-yearfrom at least one of: a remote controller or a keypad.
 20. Thenon-transitory, machine-readable, storage device of claim 16 wherein themachine-readable instructions further cause the LED lamp controlcircuitry to: responsive to receipt of data representative of thetime-of-day by the wireless communications interface circuitry:synchronize the clock signal with the received data representative ofthe time-of-day.